


Iron Dad

by Barelyfunctioning97



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Post Homecoming - Fandom, Pre-Endgame - Fandom, Pre-Infinty War, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Allergies, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Avengers Family, Baking, Battle, Character Death, Christmas, Dating, Death, Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Family, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Heart-to-Heart, Hibernating, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Iron Dad, Movie Night, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Precious Peter Parker, Sensory Overload, Separation Anxiety, Sick Peter Parker, Sickfic, Sleepy Cuddles, Sleepy Peter Parker, Teaching, Tony Stark Has A Heart, drunk, spider dna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2020-05-29 17:45:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 62
Words: 96,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19405111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barelyfunctioning97/pseuds/Barelyfunctioning97
Summary: Since the very first day Tony had met Peter he had wormed himself into Tony's heart. Now that damn kid has Tony wrapped around his little finger and quite honestly, to tell you the truth? Tony couldn't care less. Peter Parker is an amazing kid that Tony feels he doesn't really deserve to know, let alone share such a close bond with, but he’d be damned if he didn’t earn it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya guys! I hope you are well. 
> 
> This is my first ever time posting! (I'm very nervous, it took me 2 years to upload heh). Additional tags will be added as the story progresses to avoid spoilers :). 
> 
> Endgame broke me, it really did, I will NEVER get over you know who and you know who lives being lost. I wrote this story a while ago when everything was okay. I wrote it after seeing Spiderman Homecoming because like most other people I died of happiness with the father & son bond Peter and Tony shared.
> 
> Please don’t copy and paste this somewhere else, much appreciated. 
> 
> Feedback is welcome! (just be gentle hahaha) So without further ado, I hope you enjoy my silly little story

"Bye May! I’m heading to school, I love you” Peter calls out, grabbing an apple as he leaves his small two-bedroom apartment in Queens. It’s small, but it’s home and it’s cozy, the place he’s called home since the age of four.

"Bye Peter, I love you too" Aunt May calls out as the door swings closed.

Peter makes the train on time and takes a seat, putting his earphones on pulling out his chemistry textbook to cram in just a little more study before the test this afternoon. Peters train pulls up at his stop, waving a quick thanks to the driver, he runs down to the stairs towards school, ready to start his day. 

"Peter!" someone calls out as soon as Peter walks through the school doors.

"Ned!" Peter greets his best friend doing their handshake. 

"Want to come over after school? I finally saved up enough money to get the Kessel Run Millennium Falcon Lego set! you can probably even sleep over because it’s Friday" Ned says excitedly. 

"I’m sorry Ned, Mr Stark wants me to go over and work on some stuff with him," Peter says apologetically. "I'll ask May about next weekend okay?" he quickly adds, as he sees Ned's face fall with disappointment. 

It's not like he doesn't want to hang out with Ned. It's just, he doesn't a lot of time these days. School, homework, decathlon, his “internship” *cough Spider-Man cough* as well as helping Tony Stark with things here and there. Peter barely has time to get the 4 hours sleep he gets (most nights). 

"Yes!" Ned yells grinning again, Peter grins back as they make their way to the first class of the day.

"Hey, happy!" Peter greets the ironically named driver as he gets into the car. "Hi," Happy says sounding bored as he pulls off the curb, driving towards the Avengers tower. (After the whole plane crash incident Tony decided not to sell the tower, claiming it to be too much effort. Happy, however, taunts Peter "Stark wanted to keep an eye on you, the farther away Tony is the harder it will be to keep you out of trouble").

"We did this awesome experiment today in chemistry Happy!" Peter tells Happy excitedly before he starts rambling about the experiment they did in class.

"That’s great kid," Happy says half-heartedly, as he puts up the screen divider in the car, separating the two, preventing further conversation. 

Peter gets out his physics book, taking advantage of the half-hour drive to get a head start on his homework. 

“Thanks a bunch, Happy,” Peter says, grabbing his bag and getting out the car.

"Welcome back Peter" Friday greets as he enters.

"Hi Friday, how are you today?" 

"I am functioning well today Peter, how are you?". 

"I'm Great thanks for asking" he replies making his way to the workshop.

"Hey Mr Stark" Peter calls, putting his bag into the corner of the room. "Hey, kid" Tony greets "ready to get started?". Peter grins nodding "hell yes! so ready!", he answers, bouncing over to Tony. "Language" Tony scolds jokingly, grinning at Peters confused face "It's an inside joke". "Really, can I know, please Mr Stark!" Peter begs, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Sorry kid, maybe if you said yes to being an Avenger, you could know the secrets" Tony teases, smugly. "But, it….it was a test" Peter replied frowning. "I know, just messing with you kid you are way too easy to rile up" Tony remarks, ruffling his hair. 

"I'm not easy to rile up, you're easy to rile up" Peter mutters, under his breath as he follows Tony. 

Peter is ready and raring to continue working on his web-shooter cartridges, he and Tony are going to see if they could design them hold more web fluid. The two work in silence, however, it's soon interrupted by Peters' stomach growling loudly. 

"Sorry" he quickly apologizes, as heat rushes to his face in embarrassment.

Since the Spider bite, he is ALWAYS hungry, even after he has eaten a meal, it doesn’t take long until he starts feeling a slight pang of hunger. Peter hates it, most of the time can just ignore it but sometimes, after a particularly busy night of patrol or skipping breakfast because they simply don't have of food at home, Peter is so hungry, he can barely concentrate. 

"I should probably get going," Peter says, checking the time seeing that it was 6 pm. 

"May is going to be home for dinner tonight and we are going to eat together" he explains, grabbing his bag. 

"Have a nice weekend Mr Stark" Peter calls over his shoulder, waving goodbye. 

"See you Peter" his mentor replies, not looking up from his workbench.

"I'm home!" Peter shouts as he walks through the door. 

"Hi honey," Aunt May says, coming out from the kitchen looking a little dishevelled. 

He walks over, greeting her with a big hug. Aunt Mays hugs are the best, they are warm, comforting and she always hugs you like she hasn't seen you in years. 

"Need a hand?" Peter asks, walking over the stovetop to take the lid off the boiling over pasta. 

"No, no is okay, you've been at school and your internship today. sit and rest" She says, kissing the top of Peter's head.

"You had work today" he answers back, stirring the pasta sauce. 

"I love you," she says, bringing him in for another infamous hug. 

"I love you too May" he answers pressing his face into her shoulder. 

"Whoops," she says, pulling back as the smoke detector goes off. 

She starts fanning the screaming alarm with a tea towel until it shuts up. Peter puts the living room fan on, opening up the kitchen window as May pulls out burnt garlic bread from the oven, smiling at Peter sheepishly. 

"I like it crispy" he replies, shrugging in an attempt to make her feel better, as she starts scraping off the burnt bits into the bin, frustrated. 

May and Peter both know that she's not the best cook in the world, but neither of them ever says anything. May chooses not to say anything because she's a little embarrassed but Peter, he doesn't say anything because she always puts so much effort into making home-cooked meals, that makes them special, burnt or not.

Yes, sometimes the food is a little mismatched, but the food is food. The fact of it being overcooked or undercooked doesn't bother him. Mostly thanks to his increase in appetite. When cooking they try and use everything in the house before they go grocery shopping. Money is tight, bills don't pay themselves and food is expensive. They sit down at the kitchen table to eat their spaghetti, usually, Peter concentrates on pacing himself when he eats but he has been none stop all day.

"Someone's hungry," May says, smiling at Peter as he takes his last mouthful. 

"Yeah I had a busy day, I guess it caught up with me, sorry May" Peter apologizes, laughing. 

"Are you still hungry? you can have some of mine, I'm getting pretty full" May lies. 

"Nah, I'm stuffed" Peter lies back, smiling as she looks at him before slowly nodding, continuing to tell him about her day. 

Peter tells her what he did in school in return, laughing hard when he tells her how he made Ned laugh so hard at lunchtime, milk shot out his nose. Peter also asked May about going over Ned's next weekend which she agreed to. They sat and talked for a few hours, talking for another hour while they washed and dried the dishes. The reason it took so long is as they spent half an hour laughing, throwing water and soap at each other. May showered and went to bed, working early mornings this weekend. 

Peter wishes her a good night before heading to his room, closing the door, quickly putting on his suit before crawling out his window ready for a night of patrol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! thank you for reading this far!
> 
> I just wanted to let you know that you are an amazing person and whatever struggles you may be having, it will get better. Just show the world how strong you are and hang on for a happier tomorrow. It will come. 
> 
> “I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.”  
> — Walt Disney


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya guys, I'm really sorry but this one is a little short, but I hope you enjoy all the same. Thank you!

An hour passes by and all Peter has been doing is sitting on a rooftop, waiting on any kind of criminal activity. Another 10 minutes pass until, Karen alerts him of a robbery taking place, just a few blocks away.

"I'm on it," he says, web-slinging over to the where the heist was currently taking place. 

"What have we got Karen," Peter asks, perching on a rooftop watching the bank closely. 

"There are three men, two of them are armed" Karen replies smoothly. 

"Easy! I got this," He says, jumping down from the roof. 

Peter slowly opens the door and climbs up onto the roof. He crawls silently on the roof until directly above the robbers.

"Hey, guys," Peter says, as he shoots out a web ripping the gun from one of the guys' hands. 

"I'm just going to put this up here," Peter tells the criminal, webbing the gun to the roof. 

"Don't you know guns are dangerous?" he jokingly asks the other armed robber, jumping down from the ceiling, just as the second gunman starts to open fire. 

Peter dodges the bullets easily thanks to his Spidey sense. 

"What did I just say about these things being dangerous?" Peter mockingly scolds, shooting web out and yanking the second guys gun out his hands webbing that to the ceiling next to the first one.

Peter webs up the two gunmen to each other before webbing them to the wall. His spider-sense tingles again, as he dodges a punch thrown by the third guy, who was trying the break open the safe.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that stealing is a pretty terrible thing to do Mr Criminal?" Peter asks as he webs the guy up to another wall. 

"Hey Karen, sent an alert to the NYPD please," Peter asks Karen. 

"The NYPD has been notified and will arrive in 3 minutes"

" Well,” Peter says, hanging upside down from the ceiling.

"I’d love to HANG around, but now that we're all CAUGHT up I'll be on my way, say hi to the police for me," Peter says waving, before web-slinging away from the crime scene the sound of police sirens around the corner.

“Woo!” Peter exclaims as he swings up onto another rooftop, it’s not long before he hears a woman scream, he swings down from the roof and makes his way quickly towards the women’s cries of terror. 

“Give me your bag and no one gets hurt” A masked man yells, holding the women at gunpoint.

She shakily hands the money over, the man nods and turns to run as Peter lands in front of him, webbing the gun out his hand, kicking the man’s legs out from underneath her, snatching the woman's purse back telling her to run. She thanks him, terrified tears running down her cheeks as he turns and hightails to her car, getting in and driving away. Peter webs the guy up, getting Karen to call the police as he nods at the webbed-up criminal walking away. Peters about go back his rooftop view before he sees a woman trying to jimmy open a car, he shakes his head and walks over to her. 

“Good evening, forget your keys?” He questions suspiciously. 

She looks up, eyes widening as she sees who stands before him. 

“Yeah, obviously,” she says coolly a hint of panic in her voice.

Peter nods and webs her to the car, seeing the police come around the corner. He informs the policewoman of the carjacker now stuck to the car a little bit down the road before he slowly makes his way home. As the slowly strolls home he saves a kitten from a tree handing it back to the gentleman who thanks to him, telling Peter it was for his son’s birthday. 

“It’s no problem at all sir, which your son a happy birthday,” he says waving before continuing his way home.

Peter is climbing back up the fire escape, that's when he hears someone slowly shuffling and a quiet voice muttering. He looks toward the noise, seeing an elderly man wandering, looking a little lost, he climbs back down, carefully placing a hand on the man's shoulder.

“Are you, okay sir?” he asks, as the gentleman looks up and smiles at Peter.

“Oh, hello there young man, the names Robert, I’m just walking home from Bingo, but I seem to have taken a wrong turn, and gotten myself lost,” Robert says, patting Peter ever so gently on the back. 

“Let me get you home safe sir,” Peter says, walking the older gentleman home.

The pair talk about all kinds of things as they slowly head towards the gentleman's house. Once they arrive, he thanks Peter, entering his home, his husband, who was waiting up, shakes Peters’ hand, also thanking him for getting his husband home safe and sound.

Making his way back home, he stops a drunk driver from getting into their car, convincing them to ring a friend to come and pick them up. Two of the drunk guys' friends show up and thank Spider-Man. One of the friends drives their drunk friend's car home, the other drives their intoxicated friend home as he yells out the window.

"I LOVE YOU SPIDEY YOU ARE THE BEST EVER"

Peter chuckles, as the drunken rambling fades into the distance giving a small wave before yawning. It's 1 am no wonder he's tired he left his apartment at 9:30. He yawns again, deciding to call it a night. Five minutes later, Peter enters his bedroom via the window, he changes into his Pj's before hiding his suit and collapsing on his bed. Peter lays awake feeling his stomach pinching from hunger, he sighs and rolls over closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You matter  
> You are loved  
> You are beautiful  
> The impact you have on this world is far greater than you know. 
> 
> “In every day, there are 1,440 minutes. That means we have 1,440 daily opportunities to make a positive impact.”  
> — Les Brown


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, I felt bad about the last chapter being so short, so have two uploads in one day! Enjoy! and thank you for reading.

Pain. 

All Peter can feel is the pain. 

His leg is crushed under the rubble, the cement beneath him is digging painfully into his chest making it hard for him to breathe.

Peter starts gasping for air the panic starting to set in, he tries to push himself up grunting with how much force he's using but the building just groans above him and collapses back on top of him. Peter tries to stick his hand out but the most he can manage it is a few inches, he lets his hand fall in defeat. 

"HEY," he screams. 

"I'm down here, I'm stuck, I can't move, I…. I can't move" he cries out as the sudden realization that he might die here hits. 

Then a voice gives Peter the courage and strength to try just one more time. 

"With great power, comes great responsibility" Ben's words echo through Peters' head. 

Peter closes his eyes and taking a deep breath before trying to lift the building one more time. 

"Come on Peter, come on Spider-Man" Peter talks out loud to himself as he begins to lift the building off himself.

"Come on Peter," he says again. 

"Come on Peter" Peter hears again but it's not his voice calling out. 

They sound so far away that Peter isn't sure he actually heard someone call out because Peters alone, he was sure of it. 

"Come on Peter" he hears again, closer this time.

"Peter" May says as she shakes Peter awake. 

Peter sits up with a startled gasp, May pulls the trembling boy into a hug. 

"It's okay Peter, you're okay," She says as she rubs Peters back in conforming circles. 

She pulls Peter back to look at him and wipes the stray tear gently off his face. 

"Are you okay?" She asks pulling him into another hug as she slowly runs her fingers through his hair. 

Peter relaxes into the comforting touch and turns his head to look at the time on his alarm clock which reads 3 am. May must have been getting ready for work. 

"I'm sorry" Peter mumbles burying his face into Mays' shoulder. 

Her fingers stop running through his hair as she runs her hand down Peters' face too gently lift his head to look at her. 

"Don't you ever apologize for something like this Peter" She says gently "You kept saying that you were stuck" May comments causing Peter to freeze panicking. 

He wouldn't let his nightmares ruin his secret. 

"Did you dream that you were in that elevator again when it broke?" she said smiling sympathetically.

Peter nodded quickly leaning in for another hug not trusting his words. 

"You're okay Peter, you're okay" she repeats running her hands through Peter's hair a few more times calming the teen's nerves. 

"I hate to do this, but I need to leave for work, are you going to be okay?" May asks. 

"Yeah I'm much better thank you" Peter smiles at her as she tucks him back into bed. 

"Get some more sleep," she says getting up off Peters bed. 

"I larb you," she says standing by the door. 

"I larb you too May" Peter answers smiling as May closes the door. 

Peter is exhausted, so he closes his eyes hoping to get a few more hours sleep. He wakes up late, he gets ready in a panic, rushing out the door. He makes the tram just in time the doors closing behind him as the tram makes it decent.

Peter sits down in his seat in English class sighing thankfully, it was Friday and the school week was finally over. School went pretty fast, apart from the few comments and name calling from Flash school wasn't too bad as far as school goes he got a 98% on a chemistry test. An A+ on an English paper, MJ was impressed with the progress the Decathlon team has made. 

So all in all the week has been fantastic and to bring such an amazing week to a great end Ned and Peter are now walking to Ned's place after school to finally build the Millennium Falcon Lego set.

They arrive at Ned's house running inside throwing their stuff in Ned's room before heading to the kitchen to grab the snacks Mrs Leeds has bought for the boy's sleepover. Ned's Mum and Dad are both working until 8 tonight and his little sister is sleeping over one of her friends' houses tonight, so they have the house to themselves for another 4 hours. 

They played a few rounds of Mario cart Ned won three rounds and Peter won two. The loser had to eat a spoonful of Mustard Ned cried with laughter as he watched as Peter tried and failed to keep a straight face as he ate the mustard.

"Hey, I know!” Ned says suddenly. 

“We got this new karaoke machine a few days ago, its pretty fun," he continued, setting up the system. 

They tried to sing the first song seriously but then they started messing around. Changing the lyrics to songs seeing who could make the other one laugh while they tried to keep straight face Ned went first he sang Bart Bakers version of I knew you were trouble Peter got halfway through before he cracked and couldn't hold back his laughter. 

Peter went next and picked Oath by Cher Lloyd Ned listened to Peter a little confused as he started to sing the song not changing of the lyrics, but then it got to the chorus grinning at Ned, Peter started to sing.

"Laughing so damn hard"

"I crashed Flashes car"

"All the scars we share"

"I promise, I swear"

Ned lost it as soon as Peter sang the line about crashing flashes car and got up singing along with Peter, at 7:30 they ordered in some pizza and ate it in Ned's room while building the Millennium Falcon. 

"Hi, boys," Mrs Leeds says sticking her head in Ned's room. 

"Hey" They both answered absentmindedly deep in concentration as they continued to build. 

"You boys want some ice cream?" Mr Leeds yelled from the kitchen 20 minutes later. 

"Yes please" Ned and Peter's answer enthusiastically running down the stairs to grab the bowls of ice cream Mr Leeds had placed on the kitchen counter.

"So, how's school going, are you two Brainiac's still doing well in school," Mrs Leeds asks. 

"Muuum"

"Ned got 95% on his Chemistry test" 

"Peter got a 98%"

"Very well-done boys, have another scoop of ice cream," Mr Leeds says, placing another lot of ice-cream into their bowls. 

"Robert if you pump them full of sugar, they won't sleep tonight," Mrs Leeds says scolding her husband, a smile on her face. 

"Kids never sleep at sleepovers Angelina, I think they should rename them wakeovers," Mr Leeds says, laughing as Ned and Peter groan at his horrible Dad joke.

"If you're done embarrassing me, Peter and I will be in my room," Ned says, grabbing Peters arm and tugging him out of the kitchen. 

"NEVER!" comes their reply, as Ned shuts his bedroom door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are the only you the universe, and you are doing so well. 
> 
> “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so let us all be thankful.”  
> — Buddha


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you have all had a wonderful day, here is another chapter for you!

Ned and Peter finish building the Millennium Falcon while they talk quietly about Spider-Man and the guy in the chair. They put on Star-Wars and make it halfway through the third movie falling asleep around 3 am.

Peter wakes around 10 am the next morning looking over to see Ned still fast asleep. Peter gets up and stretching and notes how great he feels as that is the most amount of sleep he has gotten in a long time. Ned was woken by the sound of Peter shifting around because he also groans rubbing his eyes before greeting Peter with a yawned good morning. 

"Good afternoon sleepy heads" Mrs Leeds greets them placing a breakfast sandwich in front of both of boys. 

"Thank you, Mrs Leeds," Peter says grabbing his sandwich smiling happily as he eats.

A few hours later Mr Leeds drops Ned and Peter off at the Library on his way to work. They had planned to meet MJ here a few days ago so they could finish their homework together and help her with some Decathlon stuff.

"Hey, losers," MJ says as she walks up 

"Hey MJ" Peter greets, as Ned waves.

They all head inside and sit down at a table they work quietly with only the occasional 

"What did you guys get for this question" being asked.

An hour and a half later homework completed they are now helping MJ plan the decathlon meeting, that didn't take too long which Peter was thankful for as his stomach was cramping painfully, and he was starting to feel a little lightheaded. The trio gets up from the table and Peters' head spins, he catches himself on the table before he topples to the floor. 

"Woah, are you okay?" Ned asks, looking worried. 

"Yeah, I'm good I just stood too quickly" Peter responds, laughing. 

Ned and MJ both shrug and don't bring it up again. Ned's mum picks him up from the library so Peter walks MJ home, mainly talking about the book she was reading at the moment which she was making him (that's right MAKING him) borrow and read when she was done, they were talking about the up and coming decathlon meeting when they arrived out the front of her house. 

"Thanks for walking me home loser," she says smiling before she walks inside.

She has a really pretty smile Peter thinks to himself before he quickly shakes that thought from his head. Thankful that there was no one around to see him blush. He takes the train home throwing his things onto the bed squeezing his eyes shut riding out another wave of dizziness when the world stops spinning, he changes into his suit and heads off to the tower.

"Hey Mr, Stark!" Peter calls out, walking into the kitchen looking around to see if it's safe to take his mask off. 

"No one here but you and me kiddo" Tony confirms, so Peter pulls his mask off, standing next to the kitchen counter fiddling with his mask. 

"Sit down, you make the place look messy," Tony says, a small smile on his face as Peter pulls out a chair, sitting down.

"What can I do for you kid?" Tony asks. 

"Oh…. I…. uh, I just wanted to say hi…...and uh maybe if you have some time we could work on the web shooters? I think I figured out how to make a slightly stronger formula and also I might have figured out how to make the web fluid last longer and stuff" Peter rambles, suddenly realizing that showing up unannounced may not have been the best idea. 

"Sure kid, it's my day off today so I'm free" Tony smiles 

"Oh…… I'm sorry I didn't know it was your day off, sorry for bothering you, I'll uh come back Friday after school" Peter quickly replies, feeling guilty about bothering Tony on his day off. 

"Two things, one I just said I was free so it's really no trouble working with you in the workshop and two I'm banning the word sorry from your vocabulary, you say it way too often," Tony says, getting up. 

"Oh uh……. sorry?" Peter replies, causing Tony to roll his eyes before he throws his arm around Peters' shoulder. 

"Come on kid let's see what you've got," Tony says coolly, leading Peter towards the workshop.

A few hours later and they managed to upgrade Peters web-shooters, so they hold 30% more web fluid and last 10% longer. Peters phone vibrates in his pocket, so he pulls it out to check who the text was from his vision blurring a little, but he just blinks a few times to refocus his eyes. The text is from May saying that she has picked up some double shifts at work and that she will be home late but that there is lasagna in the freezer for him to eat for dinner.

Peter quickly sends her back a text reading about the lasagna made Peter realize just how hungry he is, his stomach cramps painfully as it growls loudly, he quickly squeezes his stomach, hoping to shut it up, because Peter would die of embarrassment if Tony heard the dying whale sound his stomach just made. Peter glances up at Tony who didn't seem to hear it, being too focused on re-wiring the repulsor on one of his ironman suits.

Peter is starving and is losing concentration, so he makes a move to get up, planning on heading home to eat the lasagna May left in the freezer before hopefully going on patrol for a few hours. He might even be able to scrape together some spare change to buy his usual sandwich from Mr Delmar's. Peter is drooling at just the thought of the food that's waiting at home for him, but he doesn't get very far because as soon as he stands up, everything spins violently as his vision blurs for the third time today. 

Peter feels himself falling so he tries to catch himself on the table but ends up grabbing blueprints instead, bringing everything on the table crashing down with him. He squeezes his eyes shut begging for the world to stop spinning around him, did someone just call out his name? it sounded oddly far away and echoed like they were in a tunnel Peter notes as he passes out on Tony's workshop floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You got this! You can do anything you set your mind too
> 
> Keep looking up… that’s the secret of life. Charlie Brown


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you are well, thank you for reading, this chapter isn't the best so sorry in advance.

"Peter?…...KID!" Tony yells before Peter blacks out.

Tony gently lifts Peter off the cold cement floor moving him to the couch that Tony has in the workshop. Peter is worryingly light for someone his age.

"Friday read Peters Vitals, why the hell did he pass out!" Tony asks Friday giving Peter a small smile as he sits up and starts to open his eyes. 

"Peters vitals indicate that he passed out due to low blood sugar which has been caused by insufficient nutrient intake" Friday replies. 

Peter flinches at the reply, Tony sighs, grabs a sports drink from the mini fridge handing it to Peter. He sheepishly smiles, muttering a thank you as he slowly starts to sip the beverage. Tony and Peter sit in silence for a few minutes while Peter slowly drinks. 

"You know you need to eat like four times as much as you used to kid?" Tony reminds Peter, breaking the silence. 

"Being a teenage boy, I assume that was a lot in the first place" Tony adds, looking at the young boy with concern.

"I'm fine, Mr Stark, I accidentally forgot to eat lunch, I was studying with Ned and MJ, that’s all" Peter answers, blushing as his stomach growls loudly. "Come on," Tony says getting up from the couch. Peter looks up at Tony questioningly. "Follow me Spider-Boy" Tony repeats himself rolling his eyes stalking out of the room. "Spider-MAN" Peter mumbles irritated but follows Tony out of the workshop. 

Tony says nothing as they walk into the kitchen, pointing at a kitchen stool as he starts talking to Friday. 

"FRIDAY, what do children like to eat?

Peter sits in the seat Tony pointed to with a sigh.

"If are inquiring in regards to Mr Parker, Teenagers eat the same foods as adu-" Friday starts to respond.

"I know Fri, I know" Tony replies, cutting Friday off "I'm just pulling the kid's leg" he finishes, looking over at Peter who was now scowling at being called a child.

"Order one large meat lover's pizza, what's your favourite type of pizza kid," Tony asks looking at Peter. 

"You don't have to Mr Stark, I have leftover las" Peter started to argue but trailed off as Tony held out a finger silencing him. 

"Order a large pizza for the kid to Fri, make sure it has extra anchovies and shrimp" Tony smirks, as Peters nose wrinkles in disgust before sighing, asking for a Pepperoni pizza.

"Replace that last order with two large Pepperoni pizzas"

"You got it, boss"

"Good girl"

The pizzas came 10 minutes, Peter took two slices of the pepperoni pizza "thank you Mr Stark" Peter said smiling. 

Tony sighs, taking the plate out Peters' hands handing him one of the boxes of pizza, pulling him into the lounge room. 

"Pick a movie kid," Tony says, sitting down on the couch beginning to eat his pizza. 

Peter ends up picking a movie called Big Hero 6, Tony pretends to not see the kid wipe a few tears off his face when Tadashi died in the explosion, Peter pretending the same for him, looking over at him, smiling as he took another bite of pizza. Tony looks over ten minutes later to see that Peter has already finished his pizza. 

"Still hungry?" he asks Peter, who bites his lip hesitating before shaking his head. 

"So that's a yes," Tony says, answering his own question standing up, grabbing the other box of pepperoni pizza. 

"I hate pepperoni pizza," Tony says, shoving it into Peters' hands, providing Peter with an excuse to eat it when Peter looks at Tony hesitantly, like he is debating whether or not to refuse.

Tony insisting because the kids' metabolism is enhanced of course he's still hungry he just too polite to ask for more food.

Turning back to the movie when he sees Peter munching happily on the Pizza while they continue to watch the Movie. Tony puts on Forrest Gump, seeing that Peter has finished the second pizza he pushes his own pizza box across the coffee table towards him. 

"I'm full and Pepper would yell at me for eating pizza, get rid of the evidence for me" Tony whispers, winking as Peter laughs taking out a slice of pizza when Tony nudges it even closer to the teen.

Forest Gump finishes and Peter gets up and stretches. 

"I think I should probably go, thanks again for the Pizza Mr Stark," he says, running into the workshop coming out a few minutes later with his bag. 

"I'll see you Tuesday after school," he says, swinging his bag onto his shoulder going to run out the door.

"I'll take you home" Tony offers. 

He wants to talk to Peter seriously about what happened today and the half-hour drive would be perfect. Once they were on the road Tony starts talking. 

"We have to talk about your metabolism kiddo, I'm not 100% sure but if your metabolism is anything like Roger, then you have to eat four times what you are to stay healthy and strong" Tony informs Peter, who sighs looking out the window mumbling. 

"I know, Mr Stark, but……I just…..cant" he says turning red. 

"Because you don't want your Aunt to know about your "extracurricular actives" because if you eat a lot she might get suspicious?" Tony guesses. 

"No, it's not that, it's just…..." Peter blushes deeper

"We really don't have a lot of spare money, Mr Stark, if I ask May for more food, then she'll feel really bad, she's already working double shifts at work, so we can afford to pay rent, foods just really expensive Mr Stark" 

Peter's voice gets softer as his face gets redder, by the time he's finished his sentence his voice is just above a whisper and his face matches the colour of his suit.

Tony feels like an idiot, sometimes as bad as it sounds he forgets that other people struggle with money.

"Easy, I'll give you guys some extra money for food," Tony says shrugging, hating the way it sounds coming out his mouth.

Peter is talking to him about money problems clearly ashamed and here his throwing money at him like it’s nothing.

"NO!" Peter shouts

"Please no, you don't have to do that Mr Stark, besides if you do that then she'll know I told you about our money problem and she will be really embarrassed and then when she uses the extra money for food, she'll see that I'm eating more and then she will know I was lying about being full every night and stuff, then she will feel really bad again and" Peters' voice gets higher, as he panics and rambles 

"Okay stop" Tony cuts Peter off, before the kid panics even more.

'You've thought a lot about this haven't you," Tony asks quietly

He can't help but feel a little bad for the kid (hey despite what the media tells you, Tony Stark isn't heartless). Peter nods looking down at his lap fiddling with his hoodie sleeve.

"How about we do what we did tonight then?" Tony suggests

Peters' head snaps up to look up at his mentor 

"When you come over, to work on the suits and everything, we can order some food to eat while we work, the fridges and the pantries are always stocked with food as well, don't be shy to help yourself" Tony chuckles, as Peter turns red again

"You really, don't have to Mr Stark" Peter starts to argue.

"No, stop," Tony says, cutting Peter off immediately. 

"This is one offer I'm not letting you reject, your body NEEDS food Peter, it's really nothing, please don't argue with me, I always get what I want so don't waste your time or mine," Tony says, rolling his eyes dramatically poking Peter in the ribs.

"We're here," Tony says pulling out the front of Peters apartment complex.

"Thanks, Mr Stark," Peter says, smiling getting out the car. 

"For everything" he finishes, smiling wider before closing the door and running up the stairs 

"Oh, and Peter" Tony calls, winding down the window. 

Peter turns around running back to the car. 

"Please don't be embarrassed about how much food you need to eat, Caps record is 8 pizza your metabolism matches maybe even excels his, add on the factor that you're a growing teenager, and teenage boys eat a lot without a super metabolism so yeah, EAT" Tony instructs. 

He smiles and winds up the window watching as Peter nods slightly, smiling as he walks into the building.

Tony pulls away from the curb and starts the drive home, the next morning he goes to Peters house and drops off a huge box of protein powder, muesli bars, nuts and other stuff for Peter to keep in his room to eat if he gets hungry. Peter offers to pay for it all fifty times before he thanks Tony a million times when he refuses any kind of payment.

"Don't mention it kid" Tony says, pulling Peter in for a small, awkward, one-armed side hug. 

Peter smiles, hugging back, thanking Tony one more time before he rolls his eyes jokingly and leaves.

A few weeks pass, and Peter kept his promise, he walks into Tony's workshop, munching on a muesli bar and cracks up laughing when he sees a large display of food on one of the workbenches. 

“What did I tell you? when you come over, to work on the suits and everything, we can order some food to eat while we work” Tony quotes himself. 

“Mr Stark, I believe you,” Peter says still laughing. 

Tony has done this every day that Peter is scheduled to pop in for a few hours to work on upgrades this week. 

“Tony Stark never does anything halfway kid” Tony retorts. 

Peter finally stops laughing softly, sitting down and getting to work while eating the provided 'snacks'. 

"Thank you, Mr Stark, You're the best," Peter says, smiling. 

"I know" Tony replies, smiling back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wherever life plants you, bloom with grace. The grass is greener where you water it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! 
> 
> Thank you so much for the crazy amount of support I have been getting. 
> 
> However, feedback is always welcome. I want to do my best for you guys. If you're happy then so am I.

Mondays are never the best because it means the start to a new school week, but today Peter didn't even want to get out of bed, he sighs as his alarm goes off turning it off. Sighing again as he covers his head with his blankets, if he could just skip today that would be great he thinks as he hears a soft knock on the door before May comes in.

"Hi" Peter greets May softly

He gives her a small smile knowing that today was going to be tough, if not tougher for her. 

"Hey," she says quietly, sitting on the edge of Peters bed.

"I'm making wheat cakes for breakfast, I thought it would be nice to eat breakfast together today," she says, as she gets up and leaves the room, leaving Peter to shower and change. 

Peter dries himself off pulling on a pair of Jeans and a T-shirt, going to open his door just staring at the calendar, it was the 10th of March today, Uncle Bens birthday, he has been gone for 6 months now. This is the first time May and Peter will be celebrating Bens birthday without him. Ben would have been turning 35 today Peter thinks sadly, heading out into the kitchen.

Peter envelops May in a comforting hug before sitting down, drinking a mouthful of juice.

"I was thinking that I can finish work early today and pick you up from school? we can go and pick up those cupcakes that Ben insisted on having for his birthday instead of a cake, light a candle in one when we go and visit his grave" Aunt May says smiling, a tear falling down her cheek. 

Peter nods giving her a small smile, knowing that if he tries to talk he'll cry. 

"Peter…" Aunt May says, walking over cupping Peters face with her hand. 

"That sounds nice" Peter speaks, choking up before he reaches the end of his sentence. 

"Damn it" he curses, angrily wiping the tears away.

"I love you, so much," she says, squeezing Peter tighter then she usually does. 

"I love you too" he answers, squeezing back making sure to be gentle.

"Hey, Peter," Ned says, walking up giving his best friend a small smile.

"Hey" Peter replies, giving Ned a weak smile back.

Ned smiles again placing something into Peters' hands, he looks down and sees a small handful of party poppers, Peter laughs a little when he sees what Ned has handed him, for the past 6 years on Uncle Ben's birthday Ned and Peter would run home from school, barge into the apartment popping poppers and screaming happy birthday at the top of their lungs.

It was started when Ned had to stay a few nights at the Parkers house, while his parents when away on business, Ned felt bad about intruding on Ben's birthday celebrations and wanted to make up for it, so the young boys went and bought a ton of poppers and decorations, Ben laughed at all the birthday stuff everywhere when he got home from work that night, laughing even harder when the youngsters scared him, by jumping out from behind the couches popping party poppers everywhere. 

From that point forward it had been a tradition to try and surprise Uncle Ben with a party popper when Ned and Peter got home from school after Ned went home May and Peter would sneak around the apartment popping them at random times during the rest of the night, trying to catch Ben by surprise.

"Thanks, man" Peter finally speaks, when he realizes that he had been staring at the poppers in his hand a little too long. 

"Hey Penis" Flash says, walking up to the two boys. 

"Not today Flash," Ned says angrily, wrapping his arm around Peters' shoulder walking past Flash, to their first class of the day.

You should eat something Parker," MJ says, sitting down on the other side of the cafeteria table Ned and Peter were sat. 

"Not hungry" Peter mumbles, continuing to push the meatloaf around on the lunch tray. 

MJ squints her eyes at him but doesn't keep pushing. After a few more minutes Peter recalls what Aunt May said about talking about stuff, how it makes people feel better, plus MJ, Ned and Peter have gotten a lot closer this year and he feels a though he can trust her, so Peter looks at MJ giving her a small smile when she looks up from her book. 

"It's my Uncle Ben's birthday today" he explains, letting his gaze drop as his eyes start to prick with tears, which Peter blinks away looking up at MJ and Ned smiling.

MJ gives Peter a small smile before moving around the table to hug him. Ned's wide-eyed expression matches Peters 

"I'm sorry," she says quietly, as she pulls away before sitting back down, continuing to read her book, pretending nothing happened.

The last school bell of the day rings, as students flow into the halls and out the doors of the school on the way home. Peter walks out the front doors talking to Ned and spots Aunt Mays car just outside the school gates, both boys walk over before Peter gets into the car hugging his friend goodbye. May leans over to hug Peter as he does, May spots a popper which has fallen out of Peters bag, smiling at Ned assuming that's where the popper came from. 

"Would you like to come and carry on your 6-year tradition Ned?" Aunt May asks, gesturing for Ned to get into the car.

Ned looks a little hesitant 

"Ben loved you, sweetheart, you are part of the family, you don't want to be a tradition breaker, do you?" May asks, smiling kindly.

Ned laughs softly, smiling as he gets into the back seat 

"Let's go," May says, as she pulls into the street and starts driving towards Uncle Ben's favourite bakery. 

They walk into the bakery getting Uncle Bens favourite snickers cupcakes before driving to the cemetery. The three of them walk up to Uncle Ben's grave in silence, Ned and Peter both look at Aunt May who nods as they fire the poppers saying Happy Birthday laughing, Aunt May brings a candle out her purse sticking it in one of the cupcakes.

They all sing happy birthday before sitting, eating a few cupcakes, sharing a few memories about Uncle Ben, like the funniest things that happened during Bens life. Like the one time May popped a popper while they were eating dinner, Ben jumped so badly that he threw his mash potato up into the air so high it stuck to the ceiling, how he would do lightsaber battles for hours on end and his dramatic reenactments of movies. Aunt May told Ned and Peter about Uncle Ben fell into a fountain, while he was trying to get the right angle to take a picture of her while they were on their honeymoon in London and spent the rest of the afternoon soaking wet.

May drops Ned home, Peter and May make the rest of the drive home in comfortable silence, once they arrive home, May orders some food from Uncle Ben's favourite restaurant. Peter sets up the couch with a bunch of pillows and blankets, the food arrives as Peter puts on Uncle Ben's favourite movie, grabbing his take away container and curling up on the couch next to May.

They watch the movie and eat their food in silence, May falls asleep after the movie, so Peter gently tucks the blankets around her before heading to his room deciding head out to do some patrolling. He isn't very tired, however, even if he were he doubted he would be getting much sleep tonight anyway.

Of course, the one night he needs a distraction, there's nothing much to do. He helps a few old ladies across the street, catches a dog that got of its leash, stops someone from spraying graffiti all over some shop windows, he also stopped someone from breaking and entering a ladies house who gave him some chocolate chip cookies as a thank you. But that was in the first three hours, now nothing, it's like crime has decided to take the night off. Not that Peter is complaining, no crime is good, people aren't getting hurt, nothing is getting robbed. 

No one is going to die……. he just doesn't want to be alone with his thoughts right now, doing something would distract him is all. Peter sits on top of his apartment building, just watching over the city, watching the world go by.

Peter is crying again, and he hates crying, he’s Spider-Man, not some stupid baby. Crying makes him feel weak, he hates feeling weak. Peter is staring into blank space when he feels someone place a hand on his shoulder. Peter panics, flipping backwards over the person ready to shoot webs at his attacker only to see Iron Man standing there holding his hands up. 

"I…..M….Mr. Stark?" Peter questions, relaxing a little. 

"What's up, Peter?" Tony asks, slowly moving towards the teen. 

"Well uh I helped someone catch their runaway a dog, a lady gave me some cookies for stopping someone who broke into her house, that was pretty nice of her…..I uh" Peter continues, giving Tony his nightly report. 

"No, Peter stop, not what's up with Spider-Man, what's up with Peter Parker" Tony rephrases, as he gets out his suit sitting down next to the young hero. 

"It's two hours past the curfew we agreed on for a school night, but that's not what's important right now Karen told Friday, who notified me that you were in emotional distress," Tony says. 

Peter sniffs as starts to speak, looking overlook the city.

"It was Uncle Ben's birthday yesterday," the young boy tells his mentor, noting that it was now 2 am. 

"There's also a student free day today," Peter tells Tony, so he doesn't get scolded about getting enough sleep before school.

"I'm sorry kid, that's a tough one, I wish you didn't have to go through these things but the only thing I can do is be there for you, which is exactly what I'm going to do" Tony sighs, as he gets up. 

"Put on a warm change of clothes and meet me out front" Tony instructs Peter, getting back into his Ironman suit, flying off. 

Peter a little confused, climbs down his apartment building, slipping into his room quickly throwing on some warm clothes, meeting Tony out the front.

"Let's get going," Tony says, as he starts walking off, Peter follows him until they reach the cemetery where Peters family is buried. Peter feels a small flicker of guilt.

He hardly remembers his parents, sure he misses them sometimes but it's hard to miss someone you don't remember, he often finds himself wondering what life would be like with a Mum and a Dad but Peter always just kind of assumed that having a Mum and Dad was exactly like having an Aunt May and an Uncle Ben. The young boy keeps his eyes on Tony as he walks up to the Parkers graves, smiling as Tony kneels in front of the graves, starting to speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!” - Albus Dumbledore


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sick and bored in bed, so have another chapter friends :)

"I didn't have the pleasure of meeting you" Tony starts to speak. 

"But I have met your amazing nephew, the kids a genius, helped me out a few more times then I'd like to admit, he is looking after May, might I add very nice catch, by the way, she is very attractive" Tony teases. 

Peter sighs and gives Tony a look.

"Anyway, you know as well as I do, that you raised one hell of a kid" the older man finishes, as he looks at Peter, opening his arms.

Peter looks up at his mentor, not wanting to assume that it's a hug, after what happened a few months ago. 

"That's not a hug. I'm just grabbing the door for you," he often re-lives Tony quip, still getting regular, embarrassing flashbacks.

"Yes" Tony answers Peters unspoken question, his arms still open 

"This is a hug" he confirms moving towards Peter, wrapping his arm around the smaller boy who hugs back, sinking into the slightly awkward hug. 

Peter yawns as he pulls away, rubbing his eyes tiredly. 

"I think it's time for bed" Tony speaks up again, as he walks Peter back to his apartment.

Peter waves goodbye to Tony as he climbs up the fire escape and slips through his bedroom window before he finally crawls into bed wrapping himself in his warm blankets, falling asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. 

Peter wakes up 6 hours later and gets started on his homework he didn't do yesterday. He finishes a few hours later and walks into the kitchen to grab an apple to eat as he starts to cook lunch. He watches some YouTube videos while he eats before washing the lunch dishes. Peter then decides to clean the house a little, Aunt May works hard and it's not fair that she uses her one day off a week (if she gets one) cleaning the house. He finally finishes cleaning the house realizing that it took a lot longer than he thought, it was now dark outside, looking at the time seeing that it was 5:00 pm Peter makes a move to start making dinner for when May gets home. It tastes a little bland, but he finishes making dinner before Aunt May got home and is setting the table as she walks in the door.

"Hey, May" Peter greets her, placing the cottage pie on the table. 

"Peter!" she hugs her nephew smiling. 

"The apartment looks and smells amazing, you are a brilliant young man Peter Parker," May says, as she squeezes him tighter before sitting down, serving up some cottage pie.

"This is good Peter" she comments.

It wasn't the best, the vegetables were still hard because Peter didn't cook them long enough and the mashed potato on top was a little lumpy, but her compliment made him feel good, even if she was lying just a little bit.

"I'm sorry honey but I think I might head off to bed soon" she smiles apologetically. 

"Don't be ridiculous, you just worked a 14-hour shift" he says, shaking his head. 

"I'll clean up and then go to bed myself," Peter says, pushing his Aunt towards her room.

"Okay, okay pushy" May laughs, ruffling his hair 

"I'll go to bed and thanks to my amazing nephew I can go out for that lunch my friend invited me too," she says, hugging him tightly. 

"It's the least I could do May" Peter replies truthfully, looking down at the floor

"You do more than enough sweetheart," she says, before shutting her bedroom door. 

Peter sighs, turning back to the mess in the kitchen before slowly starting to clean up, once the kitchen is all clean, the young hero takes a few quick laps around queens stopping a mugging here, a bicycle theft there. He is about to head home when Karen informs him of a house fire has broken out a few blocks away.

Peter rushes over there as fast as he can, seeing the flames coming out of the building growing rapidly, he has to think fast. "Karen, please give me a status report, quickly!" Peter says, panicking slightly as he watches the flames continue to rise. "There is one adult male inside, the building will collapse in 6 minutes, emergency services will not get here in time to save him" Karen informs Peter. He takes a deep breath and runs up to the building jumping through the lounge room window where he spots an older gentleman in a recliner, in front of the TV. "Sir!" Peter yells out loud. "I have to get you out of here," he says gently, causing the older gentlemen to startle awake. Peter gently puts the older man's arm over his shoulder and starts slowly helping him to the front door which Peter kicks down. "Sir, are you okay?" Peter asks as he helps the gentlemen across the street "Doris!, Doris is still in there" old man looks at Peter, eyes full of sorrow. "My dear old dog, she is all I have left," He says, gripping onto the young boy's arm. "I'll get your dog, sir, just stay here" Peter urges the old man. He smiles and quickly runs back into the building, ignoring Karen when she advises him against this action, saying the building was coming down in two minutes. It seems like forever until Peter finds the dog, the poor thing is curled up under the man's bed trembling. The young hero hears sirens in the distance, so he quickly grabs the dog, protecting her as much as he can as he kicks out the bedroom window leaping out of it, the building collapsing mere seconds later. He runs up to the old man who is being looked after by the medical professionals as the fire brigade put out the flames on what remains of the old mans' house. Peter gets closer to them hearing the medical staff asking who Doris is, clearly worrying that someone else may be stuck inside. "Doris is his dog" Peter answers for the old man placing the still trembling Charles Spaniel into her owners' arms. The medical team looks at Spider-Man frozen. "Thank you" the old man replies, holding his dog tightly in his arms. "It's all in a day's work sir" Peter answers. "Well nights work" Peter corrects himself, laughing at his lame joke. "Spider-Man," a Paramedic says, walking up to Peter. "We should probably give you a quick once over to see that you're okay," she says, looking worried. "I'm fine ma’am, you can help me by making sure this gentleman and his dog are okay" Peter smiles behind the mask. "Thanks for your help" he yells, as he swings away heading home for the night. Peter quickly showers so he doesn't reek of smoke tomorrow morning, he then climbs into bed sighing, realizing that he has to get up and start getting ready for school in three hours. With the adrenaline pumping through him, he'll be lucky to get any sleep at all. He plays on his phone for a while until he starts to get tired, looking at the time sighing. "Well, two hours of sleep is better than nothing” he mumbles, falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday has come and gone, we can't change that.  
> The future is unknown, we can somewhat control that by what happens today  
> That's why it is called the present 
> 
> “Don’t Let Yesterday Take Up Too Much Of Today.” – Will Rogers


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know things are a little slow but things will start to slowly build from here! We need a little fluff in between the whump! 
> 
> If I can fix anything to make reading it easier, or things don't make sense. Let me know! 
> 
> Feedback is great:)

Peter groans as he is rudely awoken by the sound of his alarm, trying to hit the snooze button. 

“Shoot” he mumbles, as he feels the alarm clock break underneath his hand.

In a quick swiping motion, he quickly swipes it onto the ground as he hears Mays footsteps approaching his room. 

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead," she says, opening the door. 

“Oh dear,” she laughs as she sees the broken alarm clock on the floor. 

“haha yeah, I accidentally knocked it off my bedside table trying to stop the alarm” Peter replies sheepishly, running a hand through his messy bed hair. 

“These things happen” she replies from the kitchen, coming back with a dustpan and broom. 

“You, shower and go get changed” she continues, pointing to the bathroom.

Nodding Peter grabs some clothes out his wardrobe, showering he purposely makes the water a few degrees colder than usual, in the hopes of waking himself up a little. 

“I have the day off today Peter, so I’ll drive you to school today” Aunt May calls from the lounge room, as Peter puts some gel in his hair in an attempt to tame his messy curls. 

Running into the kitchen Peter pops some bread in the toaster 

“Are you sure that’s not too much trouble?” he asks, spreading peanut butter on the slices of toast. 

“Nothing is too much trouble when it comes to you Peter, you know that,” she says messing up his hair. 

“Maayyy” Peter whines, pushing her hand away going back to the bathroom to fix the damage she's just done to his hair. 

“Let’s go” she calls a few minutes later after he’s finished gelling his hair back down.

Grabbing his bag and the toast he follows his Aunt out the door, May pulls up out the front of the school 

“I’ll see you tonight after I head to Mr Starks” Peter reminds her, she nods as he jumps out the car waving goodbye to her as he heads inside.

The first half of the day is fine but after lunch, the lack of sleep starts to kick in. He would have fallen asleep in math class if MJ hadn't kicked him, sliding over a piece of paper to him. He looks down at the piece of paper rolling his eyes and sticking his tongue out at her when he sees that it was a drawing of him half asleep.

MJ taps him on the shoulder after their double math class as they head off to their last class of the day, chemistry. 

“Here,” she says, shoving a can of Red Bull into Peters' hand. 

“I think you need this more than I do” is all she says before walking off again.

Peter shrugs taking a sip not hating the taste, he quickly drinks the rest, throwing the empty can into a bin outside of the chemistry lab before going inside and taking a seat. After the first 25 minutes of class Peter starting to wonder if energy drinks would even affect him because of his metabolism. He doesn't feel any different than he did a few hours ago but 15 minutes later it hits him all at once. Peter suddenly has this massive burst of energy. He starts tapping his fingers along with the ticking of the clock which earns him a few annoyed looks from the people around him, 5 minutes later he’s up and out of his seat grabbing the books he needs from his locker before running out the doors.

He runs down the side street Peter asks Happy to pick him up from on the odd occasion Tony does get Happy to pick Peter up from school, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention from his peers. Peter runs up to the car opening the door and is about jump in the car when he sees Tony Stark sitting there. 

“Oh, hey Mr Stark!” Peter says, surprised to see his mentor in the car. 

He shuts the door and runs around the car and getting in the other side 

“Hey!” he says again, jumping in the car putting on his seat belt.

Peter is sitting in the car looking out the window as Happy drives to the tower. 

“You good Kid?”

“Of course” comes Peter reply, turning to look at his mentor. 

"Why wouldn't I be?” 

“Because your hands are shaking and you've been bouncing your leg up and down ever since you got in the car” Tony informs his young protégé. 

“Oh! MJ gave me the rest of her energy drink before chemistry class, she said I looked really tired, she was right I was a little bit tired because I only got a few hours’ sleep. I thought it tasted a little funny at first but then I decided that I liked it, sooooo I skulled the rest of it before we went into the lab, because you aren't allowed to drink in the labs because it could be potentially dangerous, plus its rude to waste food and drinks. Especially if someone gave it to you, so I had to finish it because I don't want MJ to think I'm rude or anything” Peter explains, very quickly and somehow in one breath.

Tony sighs closing his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“You are running ten laps when we get to the tower” Tony informs Peter, who is still fidgeting. 

“You are way too hyper” He explains his reasoning, running his hand down his face. 

"There’s a TRACK” Peter yell excitedly. 

“That’s so awesome, do the Avengers train there, oh my god that is one of the coolest things ever” Peter continues to talk excitedly. 

“Wait. are you joking? or are you actually going to make me run laps?" 

"Mr Stark?" 

"Mr Stark?" 

"………………Mr. Stark?” Peter keeps questioning, wondering if his mentor heard his question. 

“What kid?” Tony asks as he turns to look at Peter. 

“Nothing” Peter answers quietly because Tony sounds kind of annoyed.

Whoops, Peter thinks to himself as he goes back to staring out the window. They eventually pull up at the tower, Peter grabs his bag pulling open the door. 

“Bye happy, thank you for driving me” Peter thanks Happy as always, jumping out the car slamming the door a little too hard.

"Whoops, sorry” Peter apologises, looking at Tony as he follows the older into his workshop. 

Peter jumps down the stairs leading to the workshop.

“You have enough energy as it is, why did your friend think it was a good idea to pump you full of caffeine?” Tony questions, Peter, as he walks down the stairs the hyperactive teen just jumped down.

“I didn't get a whole bunch of sleep last night, and I was falling asleep in class, so she gave me some of her energy drink, so I could stay awake” Peter explains truthfully, pulling up a hologram of his suit.

“Nuh-uh uh” Tony cuts in, shutting off the hologram. 

“Nice try kiddo, remember the rules? homework before suit upgrades, I don't want your hot but scary Aunt May coming after me if your grades drop,” Tony says, laughing at the face Peter pulls when Tony talks about how hot his Aunt is. 

10 minutes later the caffeine has worn off, Peters' eyes are starting to droop, 15 minutes later and the adolescent is struggling to keep his eyes open.

Tony looks over at the desk Peter is working on when he hears a small thud come from that end of the room. Peters' head is resting on the desk when Tony walks over to check on the young boy, upon hearing soft snores coming from Peters small frame he realises the kid has fallen asleep, he gently places a hand on the young boy’s shoulder shaking him awake. 

“Come on Peter, you can’t sleep here buddy, you'll get a sore neck” Tony explains as the teen slowly opens his eyes, blinking slowly at his mentor. 

It takes him a few seconds, but his eyes quickly snap open as he takes in the surroundings. 

“Oh! I……I’m so sorry! Mr Stark I didn’t mean to fall asleep” Peter says quickly. 

“How much sleep did you get last night” Tony questions, squinting his eyes at Peter when his reply 

"is a little bit"

Humour me, how much exactly” Tony questions again, shaking his head and sighing when Peter informs Tony that he had gotten two hours sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Stay positive in every situation and everything you do, never stop trying, have faith don’t stop due to failure.” – Anurag Prakash Ray


	9. Chapter 9

“Okay, that’s it you’re going up to your room and taking a nap,” Tony tells Peter, closing his textbook. 

“My room?” Peter mumbles sleepily.

“Yes, the room I offered you when I offered you a position on the Avengers, which you did deny but it was a very mature decision, I'm glad you are still looking after the little guy” Tony explains in detail not wanting the younger to feel bad about refusing the offer (which was not a test at all).

“I still have a room here?” Peter says, sitting up excitedly. 

“Well yeah, the room didn't disappear when you said no kid” Tony jokes, smiling as Peter turns red with embarrassment. 

“Besides I have a couple of unassigned rooms that are used for guests or visitors as needed”

He puts a hand on Peters' shoulder and starts walking out the lab, getting into the Elevator 

“Level 85 Friday” Tony instructs, as Peter gets into the elevator the doors closing behind him. 

“Level 85!?” Peter repeats, his mouth hanging open. 

“How many floors are there!?”

“93”

Peters jaw hits the floor 

“93!” he squeaks 

Tony nods as they exit the evaluator 

“This is your room here” Tony states stopping in front of Peters door. 

Peter opens his door and takes a sharp intake of breath 

“NO! WAY!” he screams, running into the room. 

“This is unbelievable! I can’t believe this, this……. this MY room!?” He questions Tony, for the hundredth time, gazing around at the empty room.

“Yes, Peter this is YOUR room,” Tony tells Peter AGAIN. 

“Sorry it’s a little bare kid, I let people design their rooms to feel more at home” he explains, screwing his nose up as he takes in the blank walls and mostly empty room.

All that’s in the room is a bed and a desk for the kid to do homework on. Peter, however, doesn't seem care at all, he is still walking around the room in complete shock. 

“This is the greatest day of my life,” he says breathless, “this bedroom is bigger than my whole entire apartment” he continues, so fast, Tony has a hard time understanding what the kid is saying.

“Okay take a deep breath, you are supposed to be getting some sleep” Tony reminds Peter after he lets the kid look around for a few more minutes. 

“Oh yeah, you got it, Mr Stark,” Peter says, moving towards the king-size bed, sitting on it. 

“Woah, this is the comfiest mattress I've ever felt Mr Stark,” Peter says, as he bounces up and down testing the mattress. 

“Are you completely sure Mr Stark?” 

“Ask that one more time spider-boy, I dare you” Tony answers, rolling his eyes. 

“Sleep” Tony finishes, pointing at Peters bed, turning to leave the room. 

Peter crawls under the blankets gasping. 

“These blankets are so soft,” he says, running his hands over the blankets.

"See you in a few hours” Tony closes the door, telling Friday to close the blinds in Peters room.

Tony heads back down to his workshop to continue working on his current project, seeing if he can add more lifting power to his Mark 38, nicknamed Igor, that he uses for heavy lifting. A few hours pass then Tony is interrupted 

“Boss, it appears Mr Parker is in distress” Friday calls suddenly, making Tony jump slightly because he was deep in concretion.

“What’s happening?” he asks Friday, as he exits the lab heading towards the elevator

“Mr Parker seems to be having a nightmare” Friday informs Tony, as he makes his way into Peters room.

He hesitates before he slowly opens the door to Peters room, Peter is tossing and turning, which has caused the blankets to tangle around his body, his quick gasping breaths are shaky and shallow. 

“Bring the lights up by 30%” Tony instructs Friday, walking over to Peter as the lights slowly start to illuminate the room.

"Peter?” Tony says gently, the young boy just whimpers in his sleep as he starts to panic more, struggling against the blankets. 

“Peter,” Tony says, a little louder. 

This time Peter bolts upright in bed and takes another gasping breath, ripping off the blankets that were tangled around his body away from him. 

“Mr Stark?” he says, taking in his surroundings his tense shoulders relaxing.

"Yeah, hi kid, I’m going to sit here, so move over,” he tells Peter pointing to the edge of the bed Peter shuffles over as Tony sits down. 

“You want to tell me what all that was about?” Tony ask Peter.

“It’s nothing, I'm all good it was just a dream,” Peter says kicking the blankets further off himself. 

“You don’t say,” Tony says, causing the young boy to look up at him sighing before continuing. 

“I just dreamt that Toomes dropped me in the lake again, I got tangled in my blankets in my sleep and my brain must have gotten confused,” he says, fiddling with his hands. 

“Thanks for that by the way,” he says as he recalls the memory of being entangled in the parachute an iron suit saving him not a moment too soon.

“Come on I’ll order some Chinese for us to eat while you finish your homework,” Tony tells Peter.

“I don’t have too much homework left Mr Stark,” He tells his mentor 

“All I had left was chemistry, I fell asleep doing it. Aunt May is going out with some friends tonight so I was thinking about going on patrol after I left here before I go home for the night” 

“Well okay, but you need a good nights sleep, so I want you home and in bed no later than 11:00,” Tony tells the teenager. 

"I don’t plan to stay out as late as I do Mr Stark sometimes the bad things happen when I’m on my way home and I can’t not do something” Peter argues 

“12:00 then” Tony compromises.

“I’ll call Aunt May,” Tony tells Peter, as the younger boy opens his mouth to argue, quickly snapping it shut at his mentors' threat 

“Sir…...”

Tony smiles smugly at the teen 

“What kind of Chinese do you like?”

“I just love food”

laughing Tony orders one of everything off the menu

Peter has finished his homework by the time the food arrives so they talk and eat as they come up with a few suit upgrades testing a few ideas. 

“Ms Potts has arrived home boss” Friday informs

Tony smiles and heads up to the lounge room to greet her, Peter following close behind saying that he is going to head home. 

“Hi, darling” Tony greets Pepper, giving her a soft kiss on the lips 

“Hi” She responds, as she wraps her arms around his waist pulling back and smiling at someone over his shoulder 

“Hi Peter” She greets Peter warmly.

“Hi, Ms Potts” He replies quietly, giving her a shy wave. 

“What time is it?” Tony asks Friday, remembering that Pepper gets home late when she travels for business. 

She spent the last fortnight in upstate New York, finalising all the paperwork and enduring serval meetings now that they aren't moving the business up there.

"The time is currently 10:15 pm”

“Woah I should get going Mr Stark,” Peter says, running into the elevator. 

“Nice seeing you again Ms Potts,” he says, as the elevator doors close.

“Being called Ms Potts makes me feel so old”

“How do you think I feel, the kids been calling me Mr Stark since we met 5 months ago,”

“Besides you won’t be called Ms Potts for much longer” Tony reminds his fiancé, kissing her tenderly as she laughs, wrapping her arms his shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You Learn More From Failure Than From Success. Don’t Let It Stop You. Failure Builds Character.” – Unknown


	10. Chapter 10

Peter was having a really good day, he got the train on time, he aced a Physics test but it all goes down the drain when he walks into his next class. Mrs Evelyn tells everyone to come up the front and grab a container and a microscope in pairs. Peter is sitting next to Ned. He grabs a box, so Ned grabs a microscope and they sit back down at their desks. 

“Today we are going to be doing something exciting because the experiment we are going to be doing today is Cellular Microscopy-Blood Cells” She explains.

“Which pretty much just means that you'll be looking at drops of your blood through a microscope” she simplifies.

Peter starts to panic as he realizes what this means, he can't use his blood, his blood is different to everyone else, what if they need to compare results Peter start to over think.

“Don't worry kids” Mrs Evelyn chuckle, snapping Peter out of his thoughts. 

Peter silently hopes he’s not the only one that looks really nervous as she starts explaining how to conduct this experiment. Peter doesn't hear much beside blood rushing in his ears as he sits frozen.

This is bad, this is so not good Peter thinks as he puts his head in his hands looking up when he feels someone standing next to him. Peter looks up to see Mrs Evelyn looking at him 

“Are you okay Mr Parker?” she asks as Peter tries to swallow the panic as he shakes his head. 

“I’m uh” 

think Peter think 

“I’m not a fan of needles” Peter answers feeling a little stupid that he didn't think of that, to begin with, 

“Or blood” he quickly adds as she looks like she might argue. 

She looks at him and sighs. 

“That’s okay Peter, just use the example results in the book. 

Peter breaths out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as she walks away from their table.

The class actually went pretty quick and was really fun now that Peter didn’t have to panic about hiding his secret identity. 

“Hey, Peter,” Ned says grabbing his friends shoulder as they leave the classroom and head to their lockers. 

“Are you actually afraid of needles and blood?, I didn't know that?” Ned asks, causing Peter to sigh as he closes his locker starting to walk to the cafeteria. 

“Well, I mean I don't think anyone is a massive fan of blood or needles…..so it wasn't, technically lying but that’s not why I said it,” Peter tells Ned who looks at his friend in confusion. 

“Dude, think about it my blood is freaking radioactive and my DNA is part spider, I’d rather exaggerate a fear of needles than have to explain the other thing” Peter whispers to Ned in a hushed voice.

“Ohhhh, right good call man” Ned whispers back nodding

“What are you losers whispering about,” MJ says from behind the two boys making them jump. 

“Nothing!” Ned and Peter yell at the same time causing her to squint her eyes at them suspiciously 

“It’s just Star Wars stuff, all the stuff you call lame and nerdy” Peter covers up as she rolls her eyes 

“Whatever, I don't care,” she says sitting down.

“Hey, Penis Parker, I heard you freaked out about a little pinprick last class, you're more of a wimp then I thought,” Says flash snickering as his group of friends laugh loudly.

“I’ll see you guys in the decathlon meeting after school today unless Penis has to run off to his “Stark internship” because in that case Black Widow and I have another hot date,” Flash says mocking Peter.

“We’ll all be there, can you like leave or something I’m trying to enjoy my lunch,” MJ says looking up at flash who walks away, his friends following close behind. 

“You are coming to the meeting, right Peter?” MJ asks. 

“Yeah, totally wouldn't miss it” Peter promises, smiling as he picks up another chicken nugget popping it in his mouth.

After the decathlon meeting, Peter runs home 

“Hey May” he calls out walking in the door. 

He quickly heads to his room putting his bag and this cool camera that was thrown way in the bins outside that looks like it can be easily fixed.

“Hi, I baked some cookies,” she says handing Peter a chocolate chip cookie. 

“What’s wrong?” he asks taking a bite of the cookie

“You’re giving me cookies means something happened” Peter suspiciously questions his Aunt who is looking a little too guilty for the young boys liking

“I know I promised you a board game night tomorrow, but I've been given a job opportunity, and I’m going to have to go away for a few days, I leave tomorrow afternoon and get back on the 30th” She finally tells Peter after a few minutes of awkward silence. 

“That’s great Aunt May,” Peter says smiling at her

“I’m really happy for you” he assures her pulling his Aunt into a hug not letting her see his smile falter.

It’s not that he isn’t happy for her because he is really proud of her and if anyone deserves this job opportunity it's his Aunt. But as embarrassing as it is he just hates being alone, any other 15-year-old would be ecstatic at having the house to themselves for 3 weeks, the doctor Aunt May and Uncle Ben took Peter to see a few months after his parents have passed explained that the young boy was clingy and scared of being alone due to already having lost so much at such a young age.

In hindsight Uncle, Ben’s passing didn’t really help either as Peter can’t help but panic if May is home late from work or doesn’t answer calls for hours on end. This is the first time they would have been away from each other for an extended period of time since Germany, but even then, Peter had Mr Stark and Happy to talk to and keep him company. Peter might be able to talk to Ned and see if he can stay with his best friend for a few nights. 

“Peter, did you hear what I said?” she asks as Peter shakes his head how long has she been trying to get his attention? 

“You’ll be staying with Tony Stark while I’m away” May repeats herself.

“what, really!? and….and that’s okay with him?” Peter asks her unsure if that’s something his mentor would actually want

“He’s actually the one that suggested it,” Aunt May says laughing as Peter starts bouncing around the kitchen. 

“At least pretend to be sad I’m leaving,” Aunt May says continuing to laugh. 

“May….” Peter says stopping in his tracks immediately feeling guilty

“Are you kidding, I’m going to miss you like crazy” he starts to backtrack worried that he has upset her with his celebration 

“Peter, I’m joking sweetheart, I didn't mean to upset you,” She says pulling him into one of her infamous bone-crushing hugs

“You bought those cookies” Peter mumbles into her chest “what did you say?” she says pulling her nephew back to look at him

“I said you bought those cookies” Peter repeats himself 

“and what gives you that idea Peter Benjamin Parker,” Aunt May says crossing her arms pretending to be offended 

“They tasted way too good” Peter explains with a cheeky grin, running towards his bedroom to escape

“HEY!” she shouts laughing as she grabs Peter around the waist 

“Maybe I've been baking ever since I got home trying to make you the perfect cookies Mr,” she says poking him in the stomach with each word making the boy laugh.

He wiggles his way out of her grip making his way over to the bin. Peter holds the empty chocolate chip cookie box triumphantly over his head 

“You’re grounded,” she says snatching the box out of his hands and throwing it back in the bin. 

“That’s not how it works Aunt May,” Peter says shoving another cookie in his mouth 

“You know I larb you,” Peter says with his mouthful of cookies.

“Don’t talk with your mouthful” she scolds

"I larb you too,” She says smiling, as Peter picks up a few more cookies and makes his way to his room to get started on homework.

He finishes his homework in record time deciding to spend the rest of the evening curled up on the couch watching movies with May considering they won’t see each other for a while.

Peter must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knows he’s being shaken awake by May who is telling him to get ready for school. He slowly gets up and immediately regrets falling asleep on the couch because he has a headache. Groaning as he slowly makes his way to the bathroom quickly showering and getting changed, stopping briefly at the base of his neck starts to tingle as his (what Ned likes to call his spider sense) goes off but it stops as soon as it starts.

So Peter brushes it off as nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people.” – Roy T. Bennett


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a short one guys, sorry. Sensory Overload warning if you are sensitive or experience these yourself.

May is driving him to school today so they can spend just a little more time together before she leaves for the airport this afternoon. Getting in the car Peter screws nose up a little, as the strong smell of Aunt Mays perfume hits his nose, she must have put on a lot this morning he thinks to himself shrugging it off. They are halfway to school before the back of his neck starts to tingle again as his spider-sense goes off for the second time.

Peter looks around seeing if he can see anything out of place but a few minutes later it stops and he relaxes a little. Thinking that maybe he’s just worried about Aunt May going away as she pulls into the parking lot at school. 

“Don’t forget to text me when you get to the airport and when you land” Peter reminds May, for the tenth time. 

“I won’t forget Peter, “I love you," she says, smoothing down his hair.

“I love you too” Peter answers getting out the car and shutting the door.

Has the sun always been his bright? Peter wonders as he shields his eyes from the sun making his way into the school hallway. He walks towards his locker but then his spider-sense goes haywire, so he quickly ducks into the guys' toilets, only to hear someone follow him inside. Peter turns to check who followed him inside hoping it’s another student, then an arm is thrown around his shoulder quickly before he has the time to check to his surroundings.

Peter jumps as it scares him, but he recovers in seconds, throwing the arm off him before going to grab his attacker, aiming to pin them against the wall. Peter turns around to grab them and comes face to face with Ned who is just standing there staring at Peter wide-eyed 

“Holy moly, I’m sorry,” He says, backing away 

“Are you okay?” Ned asks moving a little closer hesitating before putting a hand gently on Peters' shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m, I’m fine” Peter promises Ned, grimacing as his headache gets worse.

“I’m so sorry man” Peter apologizes to Ned, thinking how he could have seriously hurt him if he had done what he planned to do. 

“My uh spider-sense is just a little wacky today” Peter explains, flinching as the school bell goes off Ned gives him a concerned look. 

“Why does the school bell have to be so loud?” he groans. 

“Are you sure you’re okay, man? you look a little pale” Ned questions, shooting Peter another look of concern. 

“Yeah it’s just a headache,” Peter says again, as they start walking to class. 

They sit down and Peter squints at the fluorescent lights in the room, he puts his head in his hands trying to block out the bright lights and nurse his headache, thankfully after what seems like an eternity class ends, and Mr Rosenberg informs the class that they will be testing the fire alarm during lunch and for them not to panic.

Lunchtime rolls around and Peter sits with Ned and MJ at their usual table shifting uncomfortably on the seats. Peter thinks that maybe if he eats and drinks something his headache will go away, hoping this annoyingly persistent headache is due to hunger or dehydration as he recalls only having an apple for breakfast.

Peter was about to take a bite of his sandwich when the fire alarm goes off and everything explodes in pain. Everything is so bright it hurts his eyes making them water, so Peter squeezes them shut. His shirt feels so itchy and incredibly tight around his chest Peter notes as he struggles to breathe with the constriction. He can hear everything, people talking, laughing, chairs scraping against the floor, the buzzing of the bright lights above, people walking around, his own heartbeat pulsing in his ears.

His heart is beating so fast, but he can’t slow it down no matter how hard he tries. He can smell, everything, the cafeteria food is the worst wafting in from every angle the smell is burning his nose because it’s so intense. Peter doesn't know what’s happening it feels like he’s dying everything hurts, it’s too much. He has to leave he thinks, as he tries to stand. Peters' legs feel like jelly, but he slowly stands, beginning to move out of the cafeteria, forcing himself to open his eyes so he can see where he’s going.

Peter stumbles out of the cafeteria biting his lip, so he doesn't cry out in pain, as the bright lights of the hall hit his eyes, blinding him. 

“Peter!” someone shouts

He whimpers, flinching at the volume, gripping his ears tighter because it’s way too loud, it just hurts so much he wants everything to stop. Hands grab him, and he hates it. The persons grasp although gentle is painful, everywhere they contact his skin, it hurts Peter can’t hold back his cry of pain as the contact with his skin pricks like tiny little needles.

It all becomes too much, Peter blacks out from the pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “You’re off to great places, today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.” - Dr Seuss


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys, I'm sorry this chapter is one huge chunk of writing. I'm sorry I don't know what's happening.... when I go to edit it looks just like everyone another chapter with all the breaks in between talking and such, but when I post it's a massive block of text :(

Pepper and Tony are sitting down together having some lunch after spending a few weeks apart. When they are both in the same state they always try and take a little more time for each other, even if it is just eating a meal together. They are sitting and chatting just finishing up lunch when Tony’s phone rings he looks at the caller ID answering the call when he sees it’s Peter calling because the kid should be in school right now. “Hello, Peter” Tony answers about to ask why the kid was ringing him during school hours when another voice answers. “Mr Stark?, Ummm there’s something wrong with Peter,” the voice says "Who are you and what’s wrong” Tony ask standing up “Uhhhh my name is Ned Leeds sir, I’m Peters best friend and I don't know the sort of freaked out and ran out of the cafeteria during lunch then he passed out,” Ned said tripping over his words. “On my way,” Tony says ending the call. Tony runs into the workshop, getting in his suit because it will get him to the school a hell of a lot faster than a car would, he tells Friday to send Happy a text telling him to get to Peter’s school ASAP. Tony enters the school grounds as Friday tracks Peters phone to the boy’s bathrooms. Tony walks to the bathroom when he sees someone who he can only assume is Ned crouched in front of Peter who is sitting on the floor curled up hugging his knees his face is buried in his arms his small frame shaking. “Peter?” Tony asks shutting the door seeing Peter flinch at the sound of his voice. “Peter” Tony whispers walking over to the trembling boy “What’s going on, you need to talk to me,” Tony tells him. “too much, hurts,” Peter says tears spilling out his eyes which are still squeezed shut. It only takes a few moments before Tony figures out what’s happening to Peter. “It’s like when whatever happened, happened it’s like my senses have been dialled to 11, there’s way too much input so they just kind of help me focus” Tony recalls Peter telling him after Tony had teased the boy asking if he could see out of his original Spider-Man googles. “Crap” Tony mutters as Peter curls in on himself even more “Ned turn off the lights” Tony instructs as he digs around in Peters bag and finds the earphones he always has on him. Peter relaxes a little as Tony places them over his ears. Relaxing when he hears Peter breath a small sigh of relief as Ned shuts the lights off before whispering to Tony that he should probably go to class and for Peter to text him when he feels better. Tony gets a text from Happy a few moments later saying that he’s out the front “Come on Peter, we are leaving” Tony gently whispers sliding his sunglasses over the younger boys’ eyes. They exit the room Tony notices that a closed/wet floor sign was just outside the door presumably placed there by Ned insuring Peter was not disturbed. Tony smiles as at the intelligence and kindness of the gesture as they slowly make their way to the car after reporting to the school nurse and checking Peter out of school. Happy turns around opening his mouth to say something only to close it again and turn around as Tony brings his finger up to his lips mouthing later. They drive to the tower in silence as Tony presses a button blacking out the windows. Peter is resting head in his hands “This is better Mr Stark,” Peter says quietly as he leans back in the seat “How are you feeling now” Tony ask whispering as quietly as he can. “A little tired” Peter responds. “Get some sleep Spiderling, I'll wake you when we reach the compound” Tony whispers and the kid is out like a light. Careful not to wake Peter he quickly explains the situation to Happy who looks at Peter sympathetically. Once they reach the compound Tony looks over to see that Peter is still fast asleep. He looks peaceful and Tony really doesn't want to wake him because of how much pain he was in less than an hour ago. Tony gets out the car and walks over to the other side of the car opening Peters door. Peter looks up at Tony when the door opens “Hi,” he says sheepishly “Hi” Tony replies looking down at him. “Sorry Under roos I'm not carrying you inside,” Tony tells Peter stepping aside so he can get out the car “Oh. right. No, no, I wasn’t um” Peter says getting out the car quickly shielding his eyes from the sun the sunglasses seeming to do nothing. They walk inside in silence Tony makes his way into the lounge room sitting down on the couch turning asking Friday to turn the TV on but to keep it at a low volume. Peter is standing in the doorway leaning on the wall rubbing his arm. “I’m sorry” he blurts out. “I’m sorry,” he says again when Tony turns to look at the boy a questioning look on his face. “Peter, you have nothing to be sorry for, you didn't plan that” Tony replies. "Yeah b-but you had to stop what you were doing to c-come and get me if Ned told me he was going to ring you I would have told him not too and,” Peter said stuttering and stumbling over his words. “Why?” Tony cuts him off. “Why?” Peter asks confused. “Why would you have stopped Ned calling me,” Tony asks. “Well uh because, you are busy, and you are doing Aunt May a massive favour by taking care of me while she's away and I don't want to be difficult” Peter says talking to the floor his voice barely above a whisper, so much so that Tony has to strain to hear what he is saying. “If something like that happens again you call me,” Tony tells Peter firmly. “Has that happened before?” Tony ask Peter as he sits down on the edge of the couch looking exhausted. “Only once but that’s right after the spider bite, the next day I woke up and everything hurt, my blankets where super itchy, the lights hurt my eyes and I spent like 2 hours vomiting because I had like a super bad headache because I could hear everything New York is really loud Mr Stark” Peter explains. “I didn’t know what was happening and Aunt May and Uncle Ben just thought it was the flu, I didn’t think that it would get that bad again, you know once I got used to my powers,” he says as Tony shoots him a look. “Shit kid” Tony sigh rubbing his hands over his face. He sighs again, getting up and walking into the kitchen, pouring Peter a glass of water handing it to him before walking over to the first aid kit pulling out some medication. “I just have a headache Mr Stark besides they don't work, so I don't bother with medication most of the time, my metabolism burns off the medication before it has time to take effect,” Peter explains “I’ll deal with it,” he says shrugging. “I’ll see if we can’t formulate pain meds that work for you” Tony promises Peter, hating the idea of the kid simply ‘dealing with it’ in future circumstances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “You’re braver than you believe and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” - A.A. Mine


	13. Chapter 13

“The team are coming back from a mission Sunday night in a few weeks time, so unless you want to tell the team who you are. Are you Spider-Man or my intern when they come over?” Tony asks Peter. 

“I’d go with my intern Peter Parker, considering you have to go to school Monday and Spider-Man can sneak out his bedroom window to go on patrol” Tony suggests. 

“Okay, Mr Stark,” Peter says nodding his head vigorously.

Tony grabs some of the left-over casserole Pepper made for dinner last night and puts it in the microwave putting it in front of Peter when it’s hot 

“Eat, Ned told me you didn’t eat anything at lunch” Tony insists passing Peter a fork who eats a mouthful and hums in delight. 

“This is amazing,” Peter says as he takes another mouthful. 

“I’ll tell Pepper that you love her cooking” Tony smiles at Peter as the elevator door pings and none other than Pepper herself steps out.

“Pepper we were just talking about you” Tony greets her kissing her on the cheek. 

“All good things, of course, Spiderling thinks your food is amazing” Tony informs her. Peter swallows his mouthful of food quickly 

“It’s delicious Ms Potts”

“Well I’m glad you like it, Tony told me you are staying with us for a few days, so I made a few extras,” she says smiling as she walks past.

Peter thanks her again before finishing his food, walking over to the sink and starting to wash his dish. 

“We have a dishwasher Under roos,” Tony says taking the plate out of Peters' hand and placing it in the dishwasher. 

“Oh, right,” Peter says picking his bag up off the couch heading towards his room. 

“I’m going to do homework for a little while, Mr Stark,” Peter says as he heads up to his room. 

He does his homework until Friday to calls him down for tea, they start watching the Star Wars movies because the kid insisted that they have to watch all the movies before he goes home. They are halfway through the second movie when Peters phone dings he checks, tells Tony that it’s his Aunt May and that she has landed safely. He walks off to call her saying that Tony can finish watching the movie without him because he has seen it enough times to keep up and Tony believes him. The kid has been whispering his favourite lines under his breath at the same time the characters do and laughing at the funny parts before they happen. Peter comes back and starts telling Tony a funny story that May told him over the phone. They continue watching movies until 2 in the morning then they both head off to bed 

“Hey Peter” Tony calls after Peter as he turns to go into his room 

“What do you say we start to decorate that room of yours tomorrow?” Tony asks Peter as Tony sees the young boys’ eyes light up.

“That sounds awesome Mr Stark,” Peter says before going to bed for the night.

Peter wakes up and stretches with a yawn 

“Good morning Mr Parker, it is currently 9:00 am, it is 20 degrees outside” Friday greets Peter. 

“Morning Friday, you can call me Peter if you’d like to” he greets Friday.

“Of course, Peter” Friday answers as he gets up to shower. 

The shower is amazing it’s nice and hot and the water pressure is so soothing. The shower in the apartment broke last week so you have to try and time your shower because the water keeps changing from cold to scolding hot making for a pretty stressful and not at all refreshing shower. Peter may have spent a little longer than necessary just letting the hot water wash over him. He jumps out of the shower and towel dries his hair before pulling on some comfortable track pants and one of his favourite t-shirts. ‘If you believe in telepathy raise my right hand’ it reads. 

“Good morning, Mr Stark” Peter greets Tony when he sees the older man leaning over the kitchen counter drinking a coffee. 

“Morning” Tony replies pouring himself another cup of coffee before pouring a glass of orange juice sliding it over to Peter. 

“There’s cereal over there, bread and stuff over there, help yourself,” Tony tells Peter. 

Peter puts some bread in the toaster drinking his juice as he waits. 

“You excited to start decorating?” Tony asks putting his coffee cup in the dishwasher. 

Peter nods enthusiastically as he eats his breakfast 

“Ready when you are Mr Stark,” he says popping his last mouthful of toast in his mouth putting his dishes in the dishwasher. 

“Let’s get started,” Tony says pulling out a Stark pad and placing it in front of Peter.

Peter picked out a few really cool posters to put on his wall and a few nice bedspreads and handed the Stark Pad back to Tony who took a quick look at the things Peter picked rolling his eyes. “the whole room is yours” Tony reminds Peter getting up and walking to Peters room.

Peter follows closely behind Tony and watches as he opens the big double doors to another massive room. 

“No way!” Peter yells running into the second room

“This is still my room!?” he asks looking around. 

“I thought that it was the closet,” he tells Tony. 

“I didn't think it was worth putting my clothes away because I’m only here for a few days,” He says looking around the room with amazement, his eyes widening as he sees that the second room leads out onto a massive baloney. 

“This is the coolest thing ever,” Peter says running across the room throwing the doors to the balcony open stepping outside.

“I can’t believe this, this……this is crazy Mr Stark” Peter babbles running back into his bedroom seeing Tony sitting on his bed.

“Like I said this whole space is yours, go crazy, buy furniture” Tony assures Peter sweeping his arm gesturing to the room

”Before you ask me if I'm sure, or tell me that what you have is fine, I’m going to have to insist” Tony reassures Peter

“Every single room in Stark tower must meet a certain standard and this just won’t do” Tony explains to Peter the tone of his voice indicates that he is only half-joking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud - Maya Angelou


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have completely nerded out and did research on what is on each floor of the Stark Tower 😂

After a few hours Peter has picked out some really cool furniture, there’s a lot of awesome things that Tony and Peter picked out for Peters room but a few of his favourites are a giant twisting bookshelf that stretches all the way to the ceiling that kind of looks like a DNA strand (what!? science is cool), a couple arcade machines, a few doughnut-shaped bean bags, a giant egg chair that can hang from the ceiling so that Peter can sit up there and listen to music and read books. 

Some chalkboard paints so that Peter can paint the wall near his desk, so he can write his notes on the wall (that was actually one of Tony’s idea) and some really cool lightsaber lights. After they pick out all the things for Peters room they head back into the kitchen for some lunch.

Peter sees that Ms Potts was starting to make sandwiches, so he quickly goes over to help her by the time they were finished they had a sandwich mountain. Peter carefully carries the large pile of sandwiches into the lounge room where the three of them sit eating while watching Brooklyn99. They watch a few more episodes before Tony and Peter head into the workshop to finish the blueprints they started yesterday. They completed them in recorded time because when Peter checked the time on his phone he only saw that they had only been down here for an hour. Tony stood up and stretched 

“I think a tour around the tower is long overdue,” Tony says, slowly making his way to the elevator.

Peter runs ahead beating Tony to the elevator

“I’m going to get a tour of the Avenger Tower!?” he says excitedly 

“I can’t believe it, Ned is going to flip out,” he tells Tony grinning up at him.

Tony follows Peter into the elevator who is talking a mile a minute and grinning like he has just won the lottery. The Elevator descends upwards the elevator dings open, Tony starts giving Peter a tour of the tower feeling a little guilty that it’s taken him almost 8 months to show the kid around. Not that Peter seems to care though, he is physically shaking with excitement 

“Let’s start this tour, shall we?”

“Yes please” Peter responds eyes sparkling with excitement 

“Floors 93 to Floor 82 are bedrooms for the Avengers plus a few unassigned rooms that are used for guests and visitors, only the Avengers and guests with permission have access to this floor” Tony explains getting back into the elevator. 

“There is also a gym, a movie theatre, a few medical areas to treat injuries, another kitchen, a lounge room and a room where we keep our weapons and technology we use for missions” he explains as they walk around the areas. 

Peter his eyes light up as he walks into the movie theatre 

“Can I please watch a movie in here tonight Mr Stark, please?” he begs Tony as he jumps up and down. 

His smile grows even bigger when Tony tells him that he is allowed to watch movies in there whenever he wants. Peter is out of breath as he walks around the Avengers weapons room 

“woah, this is Hawkeyes bow, and Black Widows gauntlets, no way,” he says in complete awe as he takes in everything around him. 

Tony lets him look around for another half hour before telling him that they should probably continue the tour. 

“Floor 81 is where we throw our parties because the living area is huge, it has the biggest bar, and the decking has been replaced with a massive pool. There is also a landing pad for helicopters, so our VIP guests can arrive in style. All the walls are also windows giving you an amazing 360 view of New York” Tony tells him as the elevator opens up to the party room. 

“A pool table! there are so many lounges in here Mr Stark, no way there is a fire pit INSIDE, this is the biggest pool I have ever seen” Peter says. 

“Don’t forget to breathe kid” Tony tells Peter sitting him down on one of the couches as he takes a few deep breaths 

“This is incredible Mr Stark, this-this is insane,” he says jumping up from the couch he takes one more look around as Tony starts to push him towards the elevator.

“Floor 80 is Pepper’s and my apartment, only Pepper and I have access to this floor, but I’ll show you around just this once okay?” Tony said as the doors open. 

“You have a house inside your house,” Peter says in amazement as he looks around.

"This view is amazing Mr Stark,” Peter says as he gazes out the window.

“That’s why I picked this floor, Pepper has always been in love with the view on this floor, so I decided to make it her floor,” Tony says smiling as he recalls all the fond memories he had with Pepper designing this place together after the last tower was destroyed.

Tony gets back into the elevator Peter following closely behind. 

“Floor 79 as you know is my workshop,” Tony says not bothering to open the doors because the kid spends 90% of his time down in there.

“Floor 78 to 1 is just boring Stark Industries stuff” Tony explains to Peter almost ending the tour there, but Peter looks up at Tony eagerly, so he presses the button continuing their descent.

“Floors 78 and 77 are offices, meeting rooms are on floor 76 not bothering to show Peter those floors because it’s just room after room filled with desks and chairs. Floor 75 to 66 is where we do all our research and development”. The kids' eyes light up when Tony tells him what happened on those floors. 

“If I give you a tour you have to promise me that everything you see isn't to be shared with anyone” Tony explains sternly placing his hand on Peter's shoulder looking seriously into his eyes. 

“I promise, scouts honour” Peter nods his head in agreement

“you’re not in the scouts, but I’ll take your word for it” Tony smiles before giving him a quick tour. 

“Floor 75 is Bruce’s lab, but you are going to ask permission from him if you want to see it kiddo,” Tony says, 

at that moment he misses his friend more than ever at that moment, remembering the last time he saw Bruce had to be at least 2 years ago.

Peters' face drops a little, but he nods understanding completely.

“It is one of the most secure floors in this place just in case of a code green” Tony explains to Peter whose eyes widen as he clicks onto what code green means. 

“Floor 74 through 70 are the classified sections where we deal with SHIELD and other government agencies, sorry kid I can’t show you this floor, it’s classified for a reason” Tony speaks as they pass those floors.

“Floors 69 through to 66 is used branching out to other business and philanthropic research" Peter smiles at this

“That’s awesome and really nice of you Mr Stark, you know if the media knew about these floors, maybe they wouldn't say such mean things about you,” Peter says his face dropping.

“Hey, it’s okay buddy” Tony reassures Peter as he sees the kid wipe away a tear.

“I’m sorry the media says all those nasty things about you, Mr Stark,” Peter says softly 

“It makes me really happy knowing that you are doing as much as you can to help people,” Peter says his smile returning. 

Tony smiles back at him and continues the tour

“Floors 65 to 61 are bio labs,” Tony tells Peter. 

Deciding to show him around a little bit as he sees Peters' eyes light up even more than the mention of the biological laboratories, the kid sure does love science Tony thinks to himself smiling. 

“Floor 60 to 56 are for testing various new Stark tech, currently we are working on the new Stark phone” Tony explains handing Peter a prototype as they walk around a few floors. 

Peter is watching everything going on around him in awe, he looks through a few features on the phone in amazement. He very gently puts the phone down as they make their way back into the elevator. 

“Floors 55 to floor 2 contain spare equipment, and everything else needed for Stark Industries to keep successfully functioning as a business and the first floor is the lobby” Tony finishes as He and Peter walk out into the lobby. 

“And below us,” Tony says pointing to the floor

“The Arc Reactors that provides power to the entire building,” He says to Peter as they get back into the elevator

“Wow,” Peter says in complete awe giving a 100-watt smile 

“Is it okay if I go out on Patrol before Dinner Mr Stark?”

“Sure, go ahead kid” Tony agrees his ruffling Peters hair. 

Who groans and runs his hand through his hair trying to tame the curls that just got tussled around. Peter runs off to change into his suit the second the elevator doors open. Tony smiles widely as he sees Spider-Man swinging his way across the city a mere moments later.

“Patrol went really well tonight,” Peter tells Ned over FaceTime as he flings himself on his bed.

He continues to tell Ned everything he did on patrol tonight. The crime was pretty heavy tonight, so he went out after tea as well for a few hours. 

“Mr Stark gave me a tour of the whole tower, this building is insane dude there are 93 floors, we have to have a movie marathon in the cinema, they aren’t those uncomfortable movie seats either they are massive couches,” he tells Ned excitedly. 

“Your life is so crazy dude!, I should probably go, I promised my Mum that we could spend the day together tomorrow and I haven't finished my homework” Ned sighs

“Oh okay dude, have fun tomorrow!” Peter says waving goodbye

“See ya, Peter,” Ned says as he ends the call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay positive. Forgive others. Invest in yourself. Trust your instincts. Lead with an open heart. Don’t let others ruin your day. Do things that bring you joy. Be of service to humanity. Find your soul tribe. Love yourself - Lewis Howes


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little separation Anxiety for you, I feel that Peter may suffer from this just a little considering his life events. I have struggled with this myself in the past in many different stages of my life so I guess its kind of venting in a strange way too. Let me know your thoughts.

The three weeks are flying by, May will be back home in three days, he is missing her like crazy but he is also having an insanely fun time at the tower.

Peter runs as fast as he can to the cinema because Tony promised they would watch a movie in there tonight with Pepper. Pepper has Harry Potter and the philosopher stone set up, they sit on one of the massive couches together, the lights dim and a little robot glides over the floor with a massive bowl of popcorn. Peter takes the popcorn thanking the small bot, it whirs happily before disappearing. 

They munch on the popcorn and watch the movie in silence, but all too soon the credits roll, and Pepper gets up telling Tony and Peter that she is heading off to bed, kissing Tony goodnight surprising Peter by giving him a big hug goodnight. Peter hugs back wishing her a good nights sleep before she leaves. 

“Could we watch another movie after I call Aunt May?” Peter asks Tony who agrees but only if he gets to pick the movie. 

Peter exits the cinema as he clicks on Mays number, she picks up after the first few rings. 

“Hi, Peter” she greets him warmly 

“I was just about to call you, I have big exciting news,” She tells him. 

“I must be physic” Peter laughs

“Don’t leave me hanging, tell me the exciting news,”

“I got the job,” May tells him happily.

“Aunt May that’s amazing, I knew you would get it I’m proud of you” Peter replies matching her excited tone. 

“It’s closer to home so I won’t have to leave as early or get home as late. I also have every second weekend off. I might get called out every now and again but besides that, we can spend every second weekend together” Aunt May tells him 

“That’s awesome Aunt May, you really deserve this promotion you work so hard,” he tells her 

He can't help but tear up because he is not only insanely proud of her because she works so hard to keep a roof over their heads, to put food on the table but also because her telling him that they are going to be able to spend more time together makes him realize just how much he misses her.

“I love you May,” Peter tells her his voice breaking a little bit. 

“I love you too Peter”

"What’s wrong sweetheart,” she asks when she hears him sniff. 

“I just miss you,” He says quietly as a few tears escape quickly wipe them away with his sleeve. 

“I miss you too Peter,” she says, and he can tell that she is also trying not to cry. 

“I’ll see you Tuesday after school,” she says. They talk for another half hour before she has to go 

“Bye Peter, I larb you,” 

“I larb you too Aunt May” Peter reply before hanging up heading back into the cinema.

Peter comes back an hour later his eyes a little red as he sits back down on the couch a little closer to Tony than before, not that he minds. nor does Tony draw attention it to knowing the kid needs this but is incredibly self-conscious about this fact. 

Peter doesn't know this, but May and Tony sat down about a month ago and talked about Peter after he and Tony had started getting closer and spending a lot more time together. She told him that Peter is insecure and embarrassed about these things and she feels terrible about going behind Peter's back, but they are important for him to know if he is going to be a constant in Peters life. She told him how Peter likes to be close to people a lot of the time and how he thrives on the closeness of others.

Peter absolutely hates it about himself and how he constantly thinks that he is annoying people. She talked about a doctor that she took Peter to when he was five who told her that Peter is a little more clingy than other children his age and that it has to do with him losing important people so early on in his life. She told him that Peter had gotten a lot better over time, it only took him a few weeks for him to stop crying when she dropped him off at school because he knew that he would see her again in a few hours. 

The hardest part was the nights for 6 years Peter would wake Aunt May and Uncle Ben up in tears most nights because he couldn’t stop thinking about how everyone he knew was going to be dead one day and that he was going to die one day and how it that it wasn’t fair May smiled sadly as she recalled the memory. She stopped having told tony everything she needed to a few tears in her eyes, but she blinked them away and started to smile as she started to tell Tony about a few things Peter used to do when he was little to get her and Ben’s attention, like climbing bookshelves and yelling at Ben to catch him before flinging himself off backwards. They asked Peter why he did it and he told them it was because Uncle Ben always caught him and that he knew that he was safe.

Tony stopped, thinking that the kid was the complete opposite now Peter hated being the centre of attention, always avoiding the spotlight recalling how shy and nervous he would get meeting people for the first time, but it made Tony smile when he thought about how much confidence Spider-Man gives the young teen.

After the conversation with May, Tony started to notice small subtle things every now and again. How Peter would hug pillows against his chest while they would watch movies, or how he would hug May at random points throughout the day which being someone who hates hugs Tony didn't understand at first. After he found out he might have felt just the slightest bit guilty about embarrassing the kid after the first time they had met, when the younger boy had hugged him goodbye in the car after he reached over to get the door for him. It’s worse when Peter gets upset, Tony has noted with past experience. He is just an affectionate kid which really doesn't surprise him because he is the kindest person Tony has ever met.

It only makes sense that he wants to be close to the people he loves because if anyone knows how fragile life can be, It’s Peter Parker. Especially losing loved one after loved one after loved one, he doesn't know how long he has left to spend with the people he cares the most about, so he smothers them in his affection, feeling relief when they do the same, because to him it’s almost proof in a strange way that he isn't being too annoying or clingy.

Tony gives Peter a smile when Peter looks over at him before turning his attention back to the movie screen asking Friday to start the movie. Peter grins back at Tony as Back to the Future starts playing, halfway through the movie Tony feels a weight on his leg, glancing down to see Peters head resting on his thigh. Tony flicks his gaze quickly back to the movie as he sees Peter look up at him checking if Tony noticed or if he was bothered by Peter using him as a pillow. His gaze falling on the screen again neither of them moved so that’s where they stayed for the duration of the movie. 

“Well, Spiderling,” Tony said checking his watch seeing that it’s two in the morning. 

“I can’t believe that I'm saying this because I usually don't go to bed for at least a couple more hours, but I suggest we head off to bed” Tony tell Peter who sits up stretching. 

“We have a long day ahead of us, your furniture is being delivered and needs to be put in your room the Avengers are coming home today, I don’t know about you but I want to look a little fresh-faced and awake for when they arrive” he says to Peter who looks at him excitedly. 

“Goodnight under-roos” Tony calls as he heads towards the elevator. 

“Goodnight Mr Stark” he hears the kid yell back. Tony quietly make his way through the apartment, getting into bed next to Pepper.

Despite going to bed two hours earlier than he usually would sleep finds him surprisingly easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The road to success is always under construction - Lily Tomlin


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠️ Anxiety/ Panic attack warning ⚠️
> 
> Otherwise please enjoy and feedback is welcome as always.

Tony wakes up to the sound an alarm rolling over, he gives Pepper a good morning kiss before they get out of bed to start the day, they take a quick shower before getting changed. Tony makes Pepper a cup of coffee before pouring himself a cup sipping at it slowly as he makes his way to the elevator about to ask Friday if the kid is awake yet because the builders get here in an hour, but he doesn't need to worry because when the elevator doors open he sees Peter moving around the kitchen. 

“You guys are just in time for breakfast,” Peter says, as he places a plate full of bacon and eggs in front of Tony and Pepper as they sit down at the kitchen counter. 

“Wow thank you, Peter,” Pepper says smiling warmly 

“I can’t remember the last time someone made me breakfast,” she says, taking a bite, playfully poking Tony in the ribs. 

He gently gives her a shove in response before taking a few bites. 

“This is pretty good kid,” he tells Peter, as the kid sits and starts to eat his own breakfast.

“Thank you, Mr Stark, It’s one of the six things I know how to make taste halfway decent,” he tells Pepper and Tony laughing.

They laugh along with him as he tells them that the other five things he can make are cereal, toast, sandwiches, muffins and spaghetti. Pepper says a quick goodbye before running out the door, she has a ‘fun’ day filled with boring phone calls and business meetings. ‘Hey, Friday, can you get some flowers delivered to Peppers office for me” Tony asks Friday “right away boss” she responds, as he turns to the kid. 

“Okay the furniture is going to be delivered in half an hour, the builders and room designers that are going to be setting up your room with all the furniture and bits and pieces are going to be here an hour after that” Tony reminds Peter. 

“It’s okay Mr Stark I can move all the furniture and set up my room and stuff," Peter says. 

“That’s a lot of work kiddo, besides I think it would be ruder to cancel, considering I've already paid them to the come out here” Tony tell Peter as he nods. 

Tony lets the workers in giving them a quick briefing on what he thinks the kid might like, his favourite colour which he told Tony yesterday was red, Tony wants this room to be perfect for Peter, just like he had done with his other team members, adding small personal features into their room to really make them feel at home.

Tony told them to notify him if anything goes wrong and told Friday to keep a close eye on them as he goes back down into his workshop where Peter was fiddling with his robot project he started a few days ago. Last week Peter admitted to Tony that he kind of missed doing robotics ever since he quit the robotics club to make more time for Spider-Man duties. So, the next day Tony set up a miniature robotics lab in his workshop, so Peter would have something to do if they didn't have any blueprints or suit upgrades to focus on. 

Peter thanked him profusely as he told Tony that he liked this even more than when he did it at school because he could take his time and not have to rush to get his project completed, he also didn't have any guidelines he had to follow which he said made it even more interesting because he gets to explore things and branch out. They work in silence for hours AC/DC playing softly in the background, normally Tony would be blasting music loudly from the surround sound speakers, but he knew loud music hurt Peters ears because of his enhanced senses, quieter music was a sacrifice he was willing to make for the kid.

“You hungry?” Tony calls across the room to Peter, seeing that it was lunchtime

“Always” Peter replies, flashing him a grin. 

Tony orders burgers and fries and the two a break from the workshop as they eat, migrating into the lounge room to continue watching Brooklyn99.

4 hours later Peters room was finished. Peter excitedly looked around the room, talking a mile a minute as he took everything. Tony thinks the kid almost fainted when he saw the framed signed Star-Wars posters that are hung above his bed. 

“Thank you, Mr Stark!” Peter says, almost bowling in excitement as he goes over to Tony, hugging him. 

“No problem” Tony tell Peter.

He pats his back awkwardly he hates hugs and people touching him, but Tony gathers that having Peter around that he’ll get used to hugs in no time, even Tony has to admit the kid gives pretty good hugs. Peter pulls back quickly sensing that he's uncomfortable.

“Oh, hey forgot a bit of the couch,” Peter says, as he walks over to the large end piece of the couch.

“How much can you lift kid?” Tony asks Peter as he watches the teen easily lift the couch, placing it where it belongs. 

“Ummm I don’t know,” Peter says shrugging 

“I haven't really had anywhere to test what my max strength is, I’ve never wanted to hurt anyone or break anything by testing it out while on Patrol, I mean I’ve accidentally broken a few alarm clocks and little things like that when I first got my powers because I wasn’t used to my strength, but I adjusted pretty quickly” Peter explains. 

“What’s the heaviest thing you’ve lifted?” Tony asks out of curiosity.

“Ummm” Peter hesitates

“A bus” 

Tony can clearly tell Peter is lying 

“Nope. try again” he responds. 

Peter sighs, biting his lip

"A building” he mutters quietly, staring at the floor. 

“I’m sorry, did…did you just say a BUILDING, you and I are going to have a conversation about that later” He tells Peter 

“Come on, let’s test that super-strength of yours” Tony speaks up again, walking towards the gym.

Once they are in the gym Tony sets the weights up slowly, adding more weight as Peter progresses. Peters starts to struggle a little bit when he hits 55 tons and Tony doesn't want to break the kid, so they stop there. 

“I’m impressed Spiderling,” Tony tells Peter. 

He is in a little bit of shock at how much the kid can lift but in retrospect, spiders can lift up to 50X their body weight, so it actually makes a lot of sense.

“Now let’s talk about what you said before, about the building,” Tony says, locking eyes with Peter.

“It was after you took the suit away, I went after the vulture again because I couldn’t let him steal those weapons and sell them to criminals” Peter begins

“I confronted him in a warehouse, he took out the supports of the building and then it collapsed on top of me” Peter continues, his hands beginning to shake.

“I was stuck, I couldn’t move,” Peter says as he starts to tremble

"Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay,” Tony tells Peter. 

“I......I yelled for h-help even though I knew that no one would be able to hear me because I was alone, I thought I was going to d-i-ie, I was so scared Mr Stark” Peter tells Tony, tears welling in his eyes.

“Mr Stark, I…. I ca-an’t breathe,” Peter says, as he starts to take sharp quick intakes of breaths. 

Being all too familiar with panic attacks himself, Tony quickly closes the gap between Peter and himself eloping the kid into a hug, gently bringing them to the floor. They kneel on the floor as Tony gently presses Peters head to his chest 

“Can you feel how I’m breathing?” Tony asks Peter, who nods

“Okay I want you to match your breathing to mine,” he tells the young boy who is still struggling to breathe. 

Tony starts takes slow intentional breaths “can you do that for me?” he asks Peter gently

“I…I think s-so” Peter whispers

“Okay we are going to breathe in for 4 seconds” Tony instructs counting to four softly, as he feels Peter breath in. 

"We are going to hold that breath for 7 seconds” Tony continues, counting to seven still hugging Peter tightly to his chest, helping him ground himself 

“Now we are going to breath out for 8 seconds” Tony leads Peter in the breathing exercise, counting to 8 as he slowly rubs Peters back in a circular motion. 

They stay sitting on the floor for a while until Peter pulls back and looks up at Tony.

“Has that ever happened before?” Tony asks

“That was a panic attack,” Tony tells Peter when he shakes his head. 

“What’s wrong Peter?” Tony ask as Peter looks down at the floor, his eyes shining with tears

“I just don’t want you to think I’m weak, I have nightmares all the time, I get scared, I just had a panic attack and now I'm crying,” Peter says, angry tears rolling down his face. 

“You are one of the strongest people I have ever met, mentally and physically" Tony informs Peter, chuckling as he motions towards the weighs, smiling when that gets a laugh out of Peter.

“You are the bravest kid I know, you go out and fight bad guys, stop criminals and help people almost every night, you are using your powers for so much good kiddo, 80% of kids your age would be goofing around, doing party tricks and showing off to everyone what they can do, hell that’s what I would have done” Tony tells Peter truthfully. 

“But like I’ve heard you say before Spider-Man isn't a party trick, you could have easily done what I did and tell the world that you’re Spider-Man, but you didn’t” he reminds Peter, trying to get it through the kids head just how special he is.

“You really mean that Mr Stark?” Peter says, his face breaking into a huge smile. 

“Every word” confirms Tony.

“Do you think I’m weak Peter?” Tony asks suddenly, Peters' eyes widen in shock 

“No! Mr Stark, no way!” Peter says, frantically shaking his head. 

“Well, I have panic attacks” Tony answers 

“you do? I’m sorry Mr Stark I didn’t mean to offend you or anything It just as you’re you and well I’m……me” Peter says. 

“I thought you had super hearing” Tony rolls his eyes 

“I literally just listed off a bunch of things that make you amazing, and that didn't even scratch the surface,” Tony says, ruffling the kids hair quickly pulling his hand back 

“Go shower, you're gross and sweaty,” Tony tells Peter, wiping his hand on a gym towel.

“Yes sir,” Peter says, giving him a mock salute before running off to shower.

A while passes and Tony sits down at the bar and pours himself a drink, he slowly sips at it while he thinks about how if Peter had the suit it would have alerted him that the kid was in danger. He should have been smarter, he should have known that taking the suit wouldn't have stopped him.

In an attempt to keep him out of danger, he put him in even more danger. Good job Tony, good fucking job, he thinks bitterly to himself as he throws the rest of his drink back, going to pour himself another glass, but he hears a voice behind him 

“Hey, Mr Stark?” Peter's voice calls, so he turns to look at him. 

“Do you think we could build this together while we eat tea?” Peter asks shyly, holding a Lego set in his hands. 

“Sure kid,” Tony tells him, Peter smiles as he runs over to the coffee table to make room.

Pepper comes home, and she must have run into the delivery person on her way up as she carries in a big bag of taking out. She sets the food down on the kitchen counter as she greets Peter and Tony and their evening plans commence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fall seven times, stand up eight. You got this.
> 
> All you really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt - Charlie Brown


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm uploading a lot but things are really slow at the moment. I’m posting more frequently so we can get to the big time stuff quicker and I don't bore you to death (if I already haven’t heh)

They load their plates full of food and head back into the lounge room 

“Can I join?” Pepper asks

“Yeah of course,” Peter says as he scoots over so Pepper can reach the pieces.

They eat and build there’s a little bit of small talk here and here as Pepper tells them about her day and Peter talks about school but other than that they are comfortable in the silence. They almost have a completed model when Friday informs Tony that the other Avengers have arrived. Tony leaves Peter and Pepper in the living room as he goes down to greet his fellow team members. 

"Hey look who it is,” Rhodes says as he comes up and holds his hand out 

“Rhodes, how did it go?” Tony asks his Best friend as he grasps the over man’s hand shaking it. 

“All went according to plan,” Vision tells Tony.

“Told you we didn't need Mr I have important business to attend to,” Rhodes says jokingly

“Yeah well if Pepper and didn't sort out this whole moving location, not moving locations debacle you guys would be out on your asses with nowhere to live right now” Tony reminds his friends 

“My hero,” Natasha says rolling her eyes walking past. 

They head upstairs to where he had left Pepper and Peter. Peter freezes as he looks up and sees how just walked in 

“Uh, Tony, who's that” Rhodes asks looking at Peter.

“Rhodes, Natasha, Vision meet Peter my intern” Tony introduces Peter to his friends.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pepper and Peter are putting the finishing touches on the Starfighter when he hears footsteps approaching looking up Peter freezes in shock, War machine, black widow and Vision are standing in the living room. “Uh, Tony, who’s that” Colonel Rhodes asks looking at Peter. 

“Rhodes, Natasha, Vision meet Peter, my intern,” Tony says as they all turn to look at Peter.

“I um hi,” Peter says trying to gain a little bit of composure

“It’s nice to meet you Colonel Rhodes, Ms Romanoff, Mr Vision,” he says walking up to them.

“Nice to meet you too, Peter please call me Vision,” Vision says as he holds out his hand

“Hi Vision,” Peter says as he shakes Vision outstretched hand. 

Colonel Rhodes holds his hand out, so he shakes that as well

“Good to meet you,” he says shaking Peters hand with a firm grip.

“Hello, Peter,” Natasha says at Peter as she walks past. 

“So, what do you do for Tony?” Colonel Rhodes asks Peter. 

“I uh, I do paperwork, get him coffee and stuff like that I also help him work on blueprints sometimes,” he says the rehearsed line easily.

“You must be a pretty smart kid” I don't understand half the stuff on the blueprints I just model the suit” the Colonel jokes striking a pose.

“I uh I mean I guess” Peter answers.

"The kids just being modest” Tony pipes us 

“He’s very bright, a straight-A, student top of his class in high school” Tony brags. 

“Tony thinks pretty highly of you, I’ve never heard him talk about his employees like that, well except for Pepper of course,” Natasha comments. 

“Yeah I Ummm I don't know, I just work hard I guess,” Peter says again trying to play it off as no big deal. 

The way she looks at him indicates that he was unsuccessful, but she doesn't say anything. Peter talks to them for another hour asking all kinds of questions before Tony claps his hand on Peters' shoulder 

“Okay kid, bedtime, you have school tomorrow,” Tony says.

Peter heads off to his room with Tony following behind they go into Peters room and Tony closes the door turning to look at the smaller boy

“I know it’s only 9 but I assumed you wanted to go on patrol tonight, so I thought sending you to bed would be a good call and a good explanation for why they won’t see you for the rest of the night” Tony explains 

“Yeah good idea Mr Stark, it was a little bit embarrassing being told that it was my bedtime in front of the Avengers but they might forget that…..right?” Peter thanks Tony as he pulls his suit out the draw.

“12:30 curfew remember” Tony reminds the young hero

“1:30?” Peter asks hopefully smiling at him. 

Tony rolls his eyes but can’t help but smile back 

“Not a minute later than 1” Tony negotiates before leaving the room.

Peter grins putting on the suit stepping out onto the balcony, standing there for a few minutes just breathing in the cool night air before he leaps off the side of the building.

“What have we got Karen?” Peter asks landing on the roof of a building nearby

“There is a disturbance on 5th” Karen informs him 

“Let’s go!” he answers jumping off the roof of the building free-falling for a little bit enjoying the rush it gives him before he shoots out a web to catch himself starting swinging heading towards 5th Avenue. 

He pushes himself to go faster when he hears a woman screaming 

“Let me go!”

“Shut the hell up” a man angrily yells 

“Stop it, get off her” a younger voice yells, their voice shaking.

Peter arrives at the scene and quickly takes everything in seeing what his best form of action is. A woman is trying desperately to tug her arm out of the much bigger man’s vice grip. The young boy grabs what I can only assume is his father arm trying the yank his father’s arm away from his mother. 

“Stay out of this Eugene,” the man says angrily shoving the young boy onto the ground.

“Dumb fucking kid” the man spits. 

Wait……Eugene? Flash!? Peter freezes in shock as Flash picks himself up wiping tears from his eyes. Peter shook his head clearing it of the initial shock before jumping into action. Jump off the roof Peter lands next to the man 

“You heard the boy,” he says making his voice sound deeper hoping to sound intimidating.

The man yells angrily as he lets go, shoving the woman angrily away from him. 

“Mum!” Flash yells running over to his mum helping her back on her feet. 

“Are you okay?” he says hugging his mum as he starts to cry. 

He forces his attention away from Flash and back to the angry man in front of him 

“Walk away,” Peter tells him standing his ground as the man goes to bypass Peter and make a move towards his family. 

He spits angrily and walks off kicking down the bins on the street as he stalks away.

“Are you and your son okay ma’am?” Peter asks gently putting his hand on the woman’s shoulder wincing as he sees a bruise slowly developing where her husband gripped her arm. 

“Yes, thank you sir” Flash replies holding out his hand. 

Peter grasps Flashes hand and shakes it, this is so weird Peter thinks to himself 

“No problem at all, you enjoy the rest of your night and stay safe,” he says jumping back onto the roof.

Peter sat down on the edge of a rooftop processing what he just saw. He guesses everyone has here secrets, the next 3 hours are a blur because Flashes situation is still playing at the back of his mind. This is the first time he has saved someone he knows personally. It feels strange and a little guilty knowing that Flash has no idea that Peter knows what he knows, Peter takes a quick shower before crawling into bed the scene playing over and over in his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no angry way to say bubbles - Unknown


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my wonderful readers!
> 
> How are you doing?  
> I hope you are well :) 
> 
> I’m sorry if I'm boring you with all the fluff and mundane things but Infinity war broke me, Endgame shattered those broken pieces and Far From Home burned the remains. sooooooooo I thought some hopefully wholesome and happy (hopefully somewhat decent) writing can lift our spirits a little before we jump into the whump again. 
> 
> Let me know if my writing style is too much and you would want me to break it up into smaller sections as other wonderful writers do on here :) (Sorry just get so worried I'm not doing well enough because you guys are amazing an deserve the best) 
> 
> AAAAAAH........anyway here's another chapter

Peter finished his homework when he woke up and ate dinner with the Avengers which was awesome his night got even better when Natasha pulled him aside saying that she wants to train him. Patrol went really well too he managed to get a few hours’ sleep which was surprising because Tuesday after school May would be home and he was really excited to see her because he missed her like crazy.

The rest of the time at Stark Tower flies by, training and working in the workshop occupied most of his time, Tuesday afternoon Peter catches the bus back to his apartment, he bought May some flowers which he places in a vase when he gets home. He finishes the last little bit of homework he has left, soon after Peter hears the front door of his apartment open

“Aunt May!” he yells running out his room giving her a massive hug

“I missed you so much,” Peter tells her still hugging her

“I missed you too darling,” she says as she squeezes him back.''

“Congratulations!” he whispers pulling away gesturing to the flowers

“Oh Peter they are beautiful,” she says picking them up to smell them. 

They cooked dinner together before sitting down and eating, May tells him about the things she did when she wasn't in boring meetings and Peter in return told her a few of the non-Spider-Man related things he did. May puts on the Wizard of Oz which is her favourite movie of all time Peter gets comfortable resting his head on her lap curling up as they watch the movie together.

Peter drifts off to sleep in Mays lap as she runs her fingers through his hair whispering along with Dorothy

“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”

May tells Peter that he can do that games night tomorrow after school because they didn't get to have one last time she promised. May starts work in her new position Friday morning and wanted to do something with Peter before she was back to being busy. Peter gets to school early on Wednesday, for the first time in a long time. MJ gets there early all the time because her mum drops her off on her way to work 

“Hey MJ,” Peter says walking up to her

“I don't like people talking to me before I've had my coffee,” she says in a monotone voice turning the page in the book she's reading.

“You drink coffee?” he replies

“No,” she says flatly not looking up from her book. 

A few seconds later she gives him a small smile putting her bookmark in the book shutting it

“I’m just kidding loser,”

“ha ha ha, original” Peter answers rolling his eyes and sitting down next to her. 

They talk for a while he tells her how Aunt Mays trip went, and she tells him about the book sale her brother took her to on the weekend, a bookstore near her was shutting down and they sold the books they couldn't donate to the library really cheap. Peter looks at her as she's talking, curly hair messily pulled back into a loose ponytail. Her eyes lighting up as she talks about how many books she bought, he must have zoned out because he didn’t even realise he was still staring until her eyebrows furrowed together. 

“What are you staring at Peter?”

“I uh nothing, I just, nothing,” Peter says as he feels the warmth rising in his cheeks looking down at the ground. 

“Hey, guys,” Ned calls across the courtyard 

oh, thank you, Ned Peter, thinks, he didn't know what he was going to say to MJ after he just embarrassed himself in front of her with his creepy staring. 

“Hey Ned” Peter greets his best friend with their handshake.

“So is this games night still happening tonight? Mum wants to make sure, so she knows if she's picking me up from school or not” Ned says sighing 

“Yeah dude its totally still happening, I'm so excited,” Peter says as the group heads into school as the bell rings. 

The day drags on, Peter seriously didn’t think it was going to end but finally, the school day ends. Ned, MJ and Peter run to catch the next tram they talk about the decathlon and a few other things as they walk from the tram station back to his apartment. 

“Hi, May” Peter calls out swinging open the door.

"Hey guys,” May says coming around the corner. 

She hugs Peter and Ned before opening her arms to MJ only having met her a few times she doesn't know MJ’s boundaries, but MJ gladly accepts the hug. They get their homework out the way first but a few hours later they are putting school bags away in Peters room and setting the lounge room table up with an assortment of games. Ned, MJ and Peter play what do you meme, while Aunt May cooks dinner because Peter tried to play it with May once, but she didn't get any of the memes.

They eat dinner as they watch an episode of Myth Busters. They choose to play twister first and Peter may or may not have won by cheating and using his abilities but his defence it's not like he can turn off his enhanced flexibly. Monopoly was played next and that was all smooth sailing until MJ buys half of Ned properties out from under his nose. They all started laughing when Ned starts talking about the game being fixed. MJ wins another half hour later and Ned just pokes his tongue out at her in response. 

After Ned and MJ were picked up May heads off to bed, after wishing May a good sleep Peter puts on his suit to go patrolling for a little while until he was tired, Peter was about to call it a night and head home until his spider-sense went haywire. Seconds later two cars come screaming around the corner, both cars have their back-passenger windows open and they are opening fire at each other. The cars are coming towards Peter fast he starts running towards the cars seeing that they are going to run a red light and traffic flow is heavy, if Peter doesn't stop these cars there’s going to be a massive car accident involving a lot of people.

He jumps quickly into action jumping flipping over one of the cars webbing it up slowing it down and stopping it from moving. Peter rips open the car door to web up the bad guys as he finishes webbing up the driver, a shot rings out of the window, it hits the second car’s tires which makes the car start to spin out of control. 

“Oh boy, that’s bad,” Peter says

Quickly webbing up the guy that took the shot before he tries to web up the second car, but it comes to a stop by itself when it smashes into a stobie pole

“Oh my god,” he says running towards the vehicle. 

He is panicking yelling out to Karen as well as civilians passing by to call 911 as he quickly yanks open the back door grabbing one of the two men in the car and as gently as he can, he helps the man out the car being careful not to jostle him too much because Peter knows as a general rule you shouldn’t move the victim of a car crash because doing so could injure them even further but it’s better to move someone whose life is threatened by something and his spider-sense is going off like crazy. 

That along with the smell of leaking gas tells Peter that this car is going to explode any given minute now. Peter puts the man a safe distance away before turning to save the second guy but he’s too late, the car explodes, and a big plume of smoke and fire go into the air.

Peter hears sirens coming in the distance, he’s in shock but forces his legs to move as jump to the roof of the building swinging away quickly leaving the horrific scene behind him. He couldn’t save him, someone is dead because he couldn't save them, Peter felt sick to his stomach. Without thinking he makes his way to the Avengers compound, Friday opens the doors for him 

“Hello Spider-Man” she greets

“Where’s Mr Stark?” Peter asks her as he fights back tears. 

“Boss is currently in this workshop” Friday responds. 

Peter heads down to the workshop the doors open, and Tony’s head snaps up at the sound of the elevator door opening.

"Peter? are you okay, what’s wrong?” he asks, as he moves quickly towards the young boy as he starts to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Don't be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” ― Roy T. Bennett


	19. Chapter 19

Today has been wonderful, Tony joined Rhodes in his physiotherapy session and he's improving a lot. He can take 10 steps in a row without the braces which are double what he could do last time. Tony and Pepper had a wonderful three-course meal by candlelight, no special celebration just simply enjoying each other’s company. 

Now he is in his workshop and has finally made a breakthrough. He is just making the last adjustments as Friday speaks informing him that Peter has just arrived and is making his way down to the workshop. Tony is about to ask Friday if Peter is okay, but the elevator door opens as his mouth does. He snaps his head up as Peter slowly walks out the elevator. 

“Peter?” Tony says moving towards the boy as he hears sniffing 

“Are you okay, what’s wrong?” he asks as Peter starts to cry.

“I’m sorry,” he says ripping off his mask. 

“Mr Stark, I… I….sc…screwed…. u…...up,” Peter says hiccupping. 

Tony can barely understand what the kid is saying, he watches Peter as he grabs the TV remote from the couch turning on the TV in the workshop. A live report from the news comes on as Peter sinks into the couch folding in on himself. Tony turns his attention to the news knowing the kid put it on for a reason. A news reporter stands in front of the camera the scene of car accident behind her.

“Gang members were in a high-speed chase, when Spider-Man stopped one of the cars, meanwhile the other car lost control crashing into a stobie pole, witnesses say that Spider-Man was able to help one of the men escape the car, but before the masked hero could help the driver out of the car it exploded killing him instantly” The sound of Peters sobs bought Tony’s attention back into the room. 

Tony swallows dryly as it dawns on him that this is the first time Peter couldn't save someone. He puts his hand on Peters back rubbing it slowly in circles as Peter cries 

“I k..know, he was a b…ad guy and all, but…t…that really doesn't matter, I mean he definitely didn’t need to die,” Peter says quietly sobbing into his hands.

“I know, buddy I know” Tony soothes pulling Peter into a hug as the young boy cries into his chest.

“I…I couldn’t s…saved him, I failed….I….I…he died…because of m…me” Peter sobs

“No,” Tony says firmly.

"You listen to me right now Peter, you did not fail, and he did not die because of you,” he tells Peter sternly. 

“B…but” the younger beings to argue.

“Shhhh” Tony shushes him as he continues to calm him down. 

Once Peters crying has slowed and his breathing is somewhat regulated, Tony takes a deep breath 

“Peter, I need you to listen to me,” he says pulling him away looking into his eyes which are red and puffy from crying. 

“I know you don't want to hear this, but we can’t save everyone,” Tony tells the young hero sadly. 

“You’ll drive yourself crazy trying, I know it’s hard, it’s tough, it really is, during missions we save lots of people that’s true, but a lot of people get hurt too, no matter how hard we try sometimes people die in the crossfire” Tony says not bothering to lie or sugar coat things, the kids too smart for that. 

“Trust me I get it, when I find out that people have died as a result of something I've done, it hurts but if we hold onto all that guilt and hold ourselves accountable for everything bad that happens in the world, shifting all the blame onto ourselves, I don’t think the heroes of the world be able to function” Tony continues talking 

“Superheroes, firefighters, policeman, doctors, nurses they have all lost people and they, we can blame whoever we want, including ourselves but the harsh reality is that it’s not going to change the situation, what happened tonight was not your fault Peter and you need to understand that. Yes, it’s sad that we can’t save everyone, but for every person you don't save there so many others that you have and can save. People are alive because of you Peter and that’s why you keep going” Tony finishes his speech.

Peter sits quietly staring at the floor processing everything Tony just said to him before he slowly nods 

“Yeah, okay Mr Stark, it still sucks though,” he tells Tony sniffing as he wipes his eyes and cheeks. 

“Yeah, it sucks” Tony agrees giving Peter a small smile. 

“We are going to drink some hot chocolate and then I’m going to drive you home” Tony suddenly says standing up. 

“Hot chocolate?” Peter questions 

“Yeah, the Avengers have a tradition to have a drink together after a particularly bad mission, we usually opt for something stronger, but I think hot chocolate will suffice” Tony admits to the teen as they make their way to the kitchen.

They walk into see Rhodes, Vision and Nat sat on the couch in the lounge room. Nat spares them quick glance before moving her attention back to the TV program she is watching, Rhodes and Vision, however, look at them with shocked expressions on their faces. At first Tony thinks it’s just because Peter is here at 1:30 in the morning but then it dawns on him that the kids is still wearing his suit and he didn't put the mask back on. 

Rhodes recovers first 

“I knew it, I knew his voice sounded familiar,” he says. 

Peter looks down at his suit as figures out what Rhodes is yelling about. 

“Oh…...whoops, I Ummm yeah, I trust you guys and I guess you were going to find out sooner or later so yeah I’m Spider-Man,” Peter says with a surprising amount of confidence. 

Rhodes gives Tony a look as if to ask how old is this kid? Tony shoots Rhodes back a look that says not now. He sighs giving up for now as he turns his attention back to the TV.

“It is good to finally put a name to a face,” Vision says his eyes on Peter. 

“Oh, uhm thank you Sir” Peter replies as Vision also turns his attention back to the TV. 

“Hey, Mr Stark?” Peter says quietly “Hey, Peter?” Tony replies turning to look at him 

“Thank you,” he says before he wraps his arms around Tony’s waist hugging him tightly. 

The others look up and raise an eyebrow at the scene, they know Tony doesn't like being touched, hugs made him uncomfortable, people touching his arm when they talk annoys the hell of out him. Hell, he hasn't been on public transportation for over 30 years. People just assume he’s being a rich asshole when he refuses to be handed things but after one too many hands brushing against his during exchanges, he has never taken anything from anyone hands again. Peter lets go, grabs his hot chocolate heading towards the door ready for Tony to drive him home 

“I thought you hated human contact of any kind” Rhodes whispered to Tony. 

“The kid loves hugs, and his hugs aren't so bad” Rhodes looks a little shocked by his answer but drops it. 

Peter and Tony climb into his car 

“Sorry, you know about hugging you,” Peter says softly, sipping his hot chocolate.

“Huh?” Tony responds. 

Clicking a few seconds later the kid must have heard what Rhodes whispered to him (damn super hearing) 

“Don't Apologise Peter, don’t tell anyone that your hugs aren't half bad” Tony instructs 

Peter just smiles back at him pretending to zip his lips shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “You Learn More From Failure Than From Success. Don’t Let It Stop You. Failure Builds Character.” – Unknown


	20. Chapter 20

Tony gets back home and as he expects Rhodes is sitting on the couch waiting for him 

“How old?” he asks before Tony even has the chance to sit down

“15”

“Tony.....”

“Listen the kid was Spider-Man before he met me okay, he bought himself into this life, not me, I made him that suit so that he would be better protected, he was running around in this stupid onesie before I gave him my suit” he explains himself 

“That’s understandable Tony but why Germany,” Rhodes asks seriously.

“Steve was my friend Rhodes, one of my best friends” Tony answers grimacing 

“I didn’t want to fight him in the first place but when he wasn't letting up I had no choice, I bought the kid in because they wouldn't be expecting it. I’d been keeping tabs on the kid for a few months before I started making the suit for him, after I made the suit I also needed a better reason than, hey I've been watching you here’s a suit” he says cringing at just how creepy that sounds. 

"He was a powerful non-lethal surprise attack, I trusted that he wouldn't hurt them nor would they hurt him” he finished looking at Rhodes who just nods at his answer. 

“Okay man, I trust your judgment, I’m going to head off to bed. I’ve had a long day” Rhodes says

He slowly stands up Tony goes over to help him, but Rhodes brushes him insisting on doing it himself, once he's up and heading off to his room Tony wishes his friend goodnight and heads to bed himself.

After the horrible Wednesday night, he had Peter glad it’s Friday not only because he doesn't have to come back to school for two whole days, but Ned and MJ enjoyed the games night so much that they wanted to do it again. This time they were going to MJ’s house because her parents were having a date night and wouldn't be home until late. 

The trio enters MJ’s house and she gives Ned and Peter a quick tour telling them where the bathroom is and everything. She quickly shows them her room and Peter honestly didn't expect anything less. She had three massive bookshelves all filled with books a couple of band posters on the wall and it was a pretty simple modern room. Everything was either grey, black or white. Peter thought her room was really cool, it was very MJ.

They went back into the kitchen and set up their first game, they just finished playing the first round of Cluedo (MJ won the first round) and were setting everything up to play another round, when they saw a guy run past the window clutching something to his chest, shortly followed by a woman yelling 

“Help someone he stole my purse” Peter gets up about to excuse himself to the bathroom but MJ speaks up first.

“Go get him Spider-Man” Peter stops and slowly turns to MJ snapping out of his shocked state about to tell her how ridiculous that sounds, but she beat him to it again.

MJ rolls her eyes as she starts speaking 

“First Spider-Man is seen in a stupid looking onesie Pj ensemble then you,” MJ says pointing at Peter 

“Peter Parker get an “internship” with Tony Stark and all of a sudden Spider-Man is seen running around in a decked out high-tech suit. Ned said in the gym that you know Spider-Man and you freaked out way too much to be normal. Then you Peter Parker come with us to DC, but you Peter go missing, miss the competition but when the team gets trapped in the elevator Spider-Man shows up in DC, which is really weird because he’s only ever been seen around queens, so duh I know your Spider-Man loser, it’s kinda obvious” MJ finishes with a smirk before returning to set up the game. 

Ned and Peter look at each other then back at MJ wide-eyed mouths open. 

“I won’t tell anyone,” MJ says not looking up as she finishes the game set up 

“I mean, I almost didn’t want to tell you I knew. Listening to you makeup all those lies was sometimes the best part of my week. The cover-up stories you came up with when I asked questions where brilliant” MJ adds laughing.

Peter quickly changes into his suiting helping the lady get her purse back before he heads back to finish the games night 

“My hero,” MJ says 

was that a hint of..........affectation? under toning her sarcasm? No, Peter thinks shaking that thought out his head MJ couldn't like him he’s just Peter, he thinks brushing off the idea of his crush having a crush on him and sitting back down to continue the games night with his friends.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s 5 am on Saturday morning as Peter crawls into bed after a long night of patrol. Only to be woken up an hour later by a text from Tony telling him to suit up and meet him at the compound telling him that he is going to be joining the Avengers on a small mission. Peter jumps out of bed quickly texting Tony back telling him that he will be over there ASAP. Peter pulls on his suit as fast as he can thankful that he doesn't have to think of an explanation for May about where he is going so early in the morning because it’s her weekend on at work. 

“I can’t believe it I’m going on a mission with the freaking Avengers!” Peter talks out loud to himself as he swings towards the Avengers tower. 

“Hey, guys, what’s up!? Peter says running into the lounge room 

“Okay the kids here, let’s move out, I will give you a briefing on the quint jet,” Tony says as he starts to walk quickly towards the landing pad, which is the temporary landing space for the quint jet. 

The team sits down as Natasha runs through the mission. It’s a pretty simple mission, they will be in and out in a few hours if they do it correctly. 

“Okay kid, I’m going to make a distraction, so they open up the doors. You'll be waiting up top and once the door opens you and Nat will sneak into the building once you are in, stay on the ceiling and out of sight your job is the same as always, keep your distance and web them up” Tony walks around as he gives people their tasks.

They land a few miles away from the building they need to infiltrate to not send out an alert, Tony very quickly briefs everyone one more time. Vision takes out the cameras and Peter crawls up the side of the building getting into position.

Tony fires his repulsor at the door it makes a loud noise as it hits the metal. a few minutes pass and the door bursts open Peter slips inside seeing Natasha do the same thing. There are a few men inside she takes out two of them easily but there’s a guy sneaking up behind her, about to stab her in the back with a knife as she's taking a third guy to the ground. Peter shoots out a web easily attaching his web to the knife 

“Yoink!” he says as he rips the weapon out the guy's hand. 

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to play with knives?” Peter asks webbing the bad guy up. 

“talk less,” Natasha says as she knocks the guy out cold.

Peter crawls across the ceiling and into the second room, there are three guys sitting watching the surveillance cameras 

“I feel like a super spy” Peter whispers into the transceiver

“I see them, but they don't see me,” he says excitedly 

“keep the talking to a minimum Spider-Man” Tony’s reply comes over the transceiver. 

“Oh right, sorry sorry, my bad” Peter replies. 

He stays in the corner of the room waiting for the second signal, he muffles a laugh as he thinks of something 

“Hey, guys what do you call an undercover spider?” He asks the others

“A spy-der” he answers a few moments later stifling his laughter. 

“Shhhh” warns Natasha 

“SPIDERMAN” scolds Tony in a whispered shout through his earpiece. 

“Right, sorry, sorry I’ll be quiet and wait for the signal” Peter responds which earns an annoyed sigh from Colonel Rhodes.

5 minutes later the power shuts off and the emergency lights turn on that’s the signal. Natasha knocks one guy out swiftly making no noise not alerting the other men in the room, the last two, however, are talking to each other. She looks at Peter and signals for them to each take down a guy she springs up and wraps her legs around one of the guys' neck bringing him down to the ground in seconds.

Peter swings down from the roof webbing the other guy up swiftly kick him in the chest which sends him flying into the far wall with a loud bang 

“Sorry, sorry my bad, that was a little hard, I didn't calculate my momentum into the force I used” Peter apologies out loud to the guy who groans in pain.

“Is he seriously talking about physics right now? ”Rhodes' voice comes through the transceiver 

“I’m gluing your mouth shut next mission Spider-Man” Tony jokes. 

Well, at least Peter hopes he's joking Peters thoughts are interrupted when another ten men barge into the room. 

“Ohhhh man, uh guy, we have a situation; a bunch of guys came into the room” Peter informs the others. 

Natasha has already started to fight them. Due to the unseen circumstances, Peter has to abandon his position on the roof and help her fight off all the guys that swarmed the room. 

"You've got to ask yourself one question” Peter quips as he uses one of his webs to rip a gun from one of the men’s grasp 

"Do I feel lucky?’” he asks dodging the fist thrown toward his face easily 

“Well, do ya, punk?" he speaks as Peter webs his attacker to the wall 

“I swear if your quoting dirty harry right now” Tony’s voice comes through the earpiece. 

Peter bites his lip choosing to stay silent because that’s exactly what he was doing. The fight lasts all of 15 minutes, but Peters lack of sleep is starting the get the best of him. Peter stifles a yawn as he climbs back onto the roof and sneaks into the last room. All Peter has to do is crawl along the ceiling and switch the main power generator off allowing the others to enter the building, so they can collect all the things these guys have stolen so they don't use the stolen blueprints and weapons for all the wrong reasons. 

“Okay, there are 4 guys on level 5, so I assume that's where we the weapons are being stored” Natasha informs the team. 

“Ready when you are kid flip the switch” Tony instructs Peter 

“Okay gotcha,” he says dropping to the floor and running over to the generator 

"At my signal, unleash hell." he says pulling the switch down into the off position 

“Was…was that a quote from Gladiator?” Rhodes asks 

“I don’t want to hear any more pop culture references come out of your mouth for the remainder of this mission” Tony lectures Peter.

“Sorry, sorry” he replies.

"Let’s get this stuff that doesn't belong to these guys huh?” Peter says running down the tunnels to where everyone else is gathering. 

An hour later they have packed everything away safely and securely into the jet. Peter is on a high right now, the mission was a huge success; the weapons are going to be destroyed and the blueprints returned to their rightful owners. “That was awesome,” Peter says bouncing around the jet.

“There was this one-time Ms Romanoff did this awesome kickflip thing and took three guys out at the same time,” Peter tells his teammates doing a flip to try and demonstrate. 

“This one guy was sneaking up behind Ms Romanoff with a knife and you should have seen the look on his face when I stole the knife from him, it was really funny, he was so confused” He continues to talk then the plane starts to shake. 

“Woah, what was that, is that supposed to happen?” he asks Tony 

“Just turbulence kiddo, take a seat” Tony reassures. 

He let's go of the breath he was holding and he walks over to one of the empty seats and makes himself comfortable he lays down, exhaustion starts taking over as his adrenaline wears off, soft snores coming from him moments later.

Tony is seated at the front of the plane, deciding to take advantage of the 2-hour flight and sort through and reply to some emails. Rhodes and Nat are lounging around on the back of the plane just talking quietly amongst themselves. An hour passes, Tony is lost deep in consecration as he replies to an email. He jumps as a sudden shout from Rhodes startles him. 

"Hey, Tony!” Rhodes shouts to get his attention.

“Shhhh” Tony hushes pointing over to Peter who is still fast asleep. 

He makes his way over the Rhodes and Nat who both have smirks on their faces. 

“What?” he asks them as he sits down.

"You are such a Dad” Rhodes teases

“I am not a Dad” Tony argues 

“Sorry, Dad” Nat replies her smirk forming into a grin. 

"Shut up” Tony murmurs “what can I do for you,” he asks Rhodes. 

“Oh, right I was just wondering if you could fix up my braces? some of the bolts came loose during the mission" he says pointing to his right leg.

“I can do it right now,” Tony says opening a draw and getting out a screwdriver, tightening the bolts which have come loose. 

“Thanks, Tones,” Rhodes says as he stretches out the leg testing it.

“We really need to teach him to talk less during a battle,” Nat says looking over at the teenagers sleeping form. 

“The kid talks a lot when he's nervous.......or scared......or excited” Tony explains. 

Nat sighs sadly at that statement because she understands what it’s like to throw yourself into battles and fights at such a young age. Almost to prove a point Peter starts whimpering in his sleep 

“He okay?” Rhodes asks

“He gets a lot of nightmares” Tony explains. 

He makes a move to get up to go and check on him, but Nat is out of her seat moving over to the sleeping boy sitting by his head running her fingers through his hair whispering softly to him. Peter relaxes into the touch falling into a deeper sleep, for a deadly assassin she could be cuddly when she wanted to be, and children were her weaknesses.

Tony had seen it once before when the Avengers had gone into hiding when they stayed at the Barton household for a few days. The fondness she had for the Barton children was a shocking scene back then, but he had since grown accustomed to it as once the Avengers found out about Clint secret life they made regular visits. 

That was until the event of civil war took place Tony can’t speak for the others, but he hadn't been back since. Sadness suddenly washed over him as not only did the memory of the betrayal come back full force, but he snapped out of it when he saw the scene in front of him Nat had gotten a blanket out from the cupboard and draped it over Peter while he was lost in thought. Peter was snuggled into the blanket his head now rested on Nat’s lap as she hummed softly to him still running her fingers through his hair.

The scene made his heart both melt and break at the same time, much like Tony shouldn’t have kids Nat couldn’t have kids. Thanks to the horrible graduation ceremony she was forced to take while she was held a prisoner in the red room. The plane landed as they arrived back in Manhattan, the jolt of the plane landing waking Peter up as he stirred. He slowly opened his eyes blinking lazily before springing up quickly taking in the situation 

“I am so, so sorry Ms Romanoff,” Peter said quickly his face burning the same colour as his suit. 

“I um sorry, sorry,” he said again. 

“You have nothing to apologize for Peter," she said, as she got up stretching before getting off the plane.

Peter looked at Tony as if to ask oh my god what have I done, Tony chuckled at his expression messing his hair up before getting off the plane himself. 

“That was so embarrassing” he hears Peter murmur 

“She moved to you, if she didn't want that to happen she wouldn't have moved kiddo” Tony speaks. 

“Right, yeah, okay,” Peter says his face still bright red. 

“I’ll order in some lunch, any suggestions?” Tony asks the others who are already seated on the couch 

“Thai” Peter yells and the others nod in mutual agreement 

“Thai it is,” he says pulling out a menu from a local Thai restaurant and ringing to place an order. 

“My stomach feels like it’s eating itself” Peter groans, flopping onto the couch his stomach growling angrily to prove a point. 

“The kid may not be joking” Tony teases

"He has an insanely fast metabolism, he always eats like he hasn't eaten in weeks,” Tony tells the team 

“I also haven't eaten anything today,” Peter says, scowling as if to say stop embarrassing me.

“Why not?” Tony turns to him, disapproval shadowing his features. 

“Your text woke me up, didn't have time for breakfast” Peter explains. 

Ten minutes later the food arrives, and Peter mustn't have been the only one that is starving because everyone snatches up their food once it's placed on the table starting to eat hungrily. Nat picks the movie Kill Bill because of course, she does. They sit to eat and watch the movie in silence. 

“I think we deserve a celebratory drink,” Tony tells the others walking over to the bar, pouring three glasses of whiskey and a glass of apple juice. 

Tony jokingly hands over the apple juice to Rodney who rolls his eyes at his dumb joke, handing the juice over to the kid as Tony passes Rhodes one of the glasses of whiskey. Peter leaves an hour later thanking Tony for lunch and saying for the hundredth time how awesome the mission was before he leaves for home, wanting to get home before his Aunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “People Who Are Crazy Enough To Think They Can Change The World, Are The Ones Who Do.” – Rob Siltanen


	21. Chapter 21

Peter wakes up to the annoying sound of his alarm clock. 

“Stupid alarm” he grumbles. 

Peter is in a bad mood as he gets up to shower, which isn't refreshing at all because it’s still broken, the water either burns his skin or it’s too cold. After the shower Peter is in an even worse mood because showering shouldn't be so difficult, he gets changed and walks out into the kitchen. 

“Good Morning,” May says placing a glass of orange juice and some porridge in front of Peter. 

"Morning May” he mumbles. 

“Did you sleep okay?” May asks. 

Peter just shrugs in response he did get better sleep than usual, so he doesn't know why every little thing is getting on his nerves today. He misses the tram, sitting down just as the bell rings making it to class just in time. The teacher raises his eyebrow at him but doesn't say anything, Peter sinks lower into his chair as he hears people laughing at him from the back of the room. Classes dragged because the flu was going around and both Ned and MJ were sick today, which meant Peter was alone during class, sitting alone at lunch too. 

“Hey Penis Parker, your friends finally figure out how lame you are and ditch your ass” Flash comments walking past with his friends who laugh at his stupid commentary. 

Peter ignores him, focusing on eating his lunch, he feels his spider-sense go off and he quickly ducks instinctively, just in time to see an apple fly past narrowly missing his head. Peter gets up turning around to look and see who threw it and comes face to face with Nick the new guy at school who arrived a few weeks ago and in those few weeks has decided that he hates Peter even more than flash does.

He hates him because Peter stopped Nick from harassing MJ. Nick was flirting with her and trying to snatch her book away, so she would pay attention to him and wouldn't let up even after she said no when he asked her on a date. Nick bullies Peter because he picked on Ned, making fun of his weight. Peter stood up for his friends, so now Nick picks on Peter which is okay because at least leaves Ned alone most of the time, and it’s not like Peter can’t take it anyway. 

Peter takes a step back stumbling because he wasn't expecting Nick to be directly behind him. Nick laughs as Peter falls backward onto the seat. 

“Hey Parker,” he says smiling menacingly. 

Peter goes to turn away, but his shirt collar is grabbed by Nick, forcing the smaller boy to look up at him. 

“I’m talking to you; didn't your mother ever teach you that it's rude to ignore people” Nick spits venomously glaring at Peter.

He let’s go of Peters collar, shoving him roughly as the bell goes off signalling the end of lunch.

After school Peter grabs his stuff out his locker going to shut it but its slammed shut for him. 

“I just want to apologise for what I said at lunch,” Nick says a sad look on his face before it morphs into a nasty grin as he continues to speak 

“Some of our classmates filled me in on your living situation, I just wanted to say sorry because I guess your mummy didn’t teach you manners after all,” he remarks. 

He could easily punch Nicks lights out, right here, right now Peter thinks angrily balling his hands up into fists, but he takes a deep breath and walks away. He’s not going to hit Nick because he could seriously hurt Nick and that’s not okay. Peter has never used his powers to gain the upper hand in a situation that doesn't call for him to do so and he never will because it’s wrong. Peter is so focused on calming himself down that he doesn't feel the pair of hands behind him before it’s too late, Peter is shoved forward roughly, and he falls down the stairs.

“oooooooo” comments a group of kids that were walking down the stairs Peter was just shoved down.

Peter picks himself up and dusts himself off, his elbows are scraped and bleeding and his shoulder is a little sore but he's fine. Peter picks up his books shoving them roughly into his bag and taking out his jumper putting it on as he runs off, meeting happy around the corner, getting in the car throwing his bag inside, zipping up his hoody before climbing into the car.

“Hi” Peter greets Happy. 

“Hi,” Happy says glancing at the young boy in the rearview mirror before driving off. 

Peter is glad that Happy doesn't try to keep a conversation going and he thinks Happy is also thankful for the silence. Peter knows he annoys Happy sometimes with all the talking he does. Happy pulls up out the front of the door. 

“Thanks,” Peter says getting out the car. 

Happy gives him one last look before driving away. Peter walks into the building and Friday automatically takes him to the Avengers living quarters because that’s where Tony is right now. Peter walks into the kitchen and spots Tony pouring himself a coffee. Peter was in a bad mood when he woke up but now he is just angry, what gives Nick the right to make those kinds of comments about his family? not even Flash goes there he just calls Peter, Penis Parker on the daily.

Peter is so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even realise Tony was speaking to him only managing to hear him say something about school. Peter assumes he asked how school was today, the last thing Peter wants to do it talk about school right now, so he just tells Tony school was fine. Tony asks if everything is okay and Peter nods because Tony Stark has bigger problems then a school bully. Peter pulls out his homework planning to get a head start so he can get more things done this weekend, but he just can’t focus, Nicks words are just circling around and around his head. 

“You sure nothing happened at school?” Tony asks. 

He really doesn't want to talk about it he just wants to forget the nasty things Nick said to him. 

“Aren't I allowed to just be in a bad mood!?” Peter snaps, wincing because he didn't mean for it to come out so nasty. 

Tony doesn't say anything after that he leaves it at that because Peter has made it obvious that he just wants to be left alone, so Tony does exactly that walking into the lounge room turning on the TV.

Peter huffs in frustration and pushes his book away from him. 

“I can’t concentrate,” he says playing with the zipper of his hoodie. 

Tony is racking his brains trying to figure out how to talk to this kid because he can tell something is on his mind, but Peter doesn't like sharing anything, keeping all his problems bottled up and private because he constantly feels like he is burdening people if he asks for help. A trait Tony knows all too well. Then a huge clap of thunder echoes through the tower Peter jumps at the sudden loud noise. 

“Was that thunder?” Peter asks 

“Yup that must be Thor” Tony answers. 

Peters' eyes look like they are about to pop out his head 

“THOR” He screams 

“As in son of Odeon?, LITERAL GOD OF THUNDER THOR?” Peter asks 

“Yes the literal god of thunder Thor” Tony replies teasing Peters use of words not that he notices. 

Peter having forgotten his bad mood completely is now pacing back and forth in the living room talking so quickly and quietly that Tony struggles to hear so he's saying managing to pick up Thor, insane and dreaming. 

“Breathe kiddo, don't pass out on me,” Tony says grabbing Peter by the shoulders and sitting him on the couch.

Just as Peter sits back on the couch his eyes go wide again. 

“My dear friend,” a booming voice says from behind Tony. 

He turns around to not only be in the presence of Thor but……

“Bruce!?” Tony shouts jogging, over to his old friend. 

“I can’t believe it, how the hell have you been? where the hell have you been?” Tony asks Bruce in shock as he grasps Bruce's hand tightly, shaking it. 

“It’s been, what two years!?” Tony confirms, still shocked to see the scientist in front of him. 

“I was on Sakaar I was stuck as the hulk for two years, Tony, two years” Bruce informs him. 

“It was horrible I wanted to get out, but the stress of being on a strange planet, which made me their battling warrior left me caged” Bruce continues as Tony stares at his friend in shock. 

“Yes, the hulk and I became rather good friends” Thor comments.

“Thor good to see you” Tony greets the god.

“The same to you Stark,” Thor says smiling. 

“I think I should explain my reasoning as to why I and Banner have shown up. Banner wished to return home and I wished to see my friends of Earth” Thor explains as he makes his way over to the couch. 

“Oh hello, what might your name be,” Thor says as his eye catches Peter. 

Peter just stares, still in a state of shock. 

“Is the tiny human okay?” Thor asks. 

He’s fine Peter is just as a big fan of yours,” Tony tells Thor.

“It is a pleasure Peter,” Thor says, grasping Peters' hand. 

The mighty god shaking his hand snaps Peter out of his trace 

“I uh I the pleasure is all…all mine Mr Thor s... sir,” Peter says in awe.

“And Dr Banner sir…I love your work” Peter says looking over at Bruce, who looks surprised Peter knows him for Dr Banner and not the other guy. 

“You’ve read my work on gamma radiation?” Bruce says looking impressed.

“Peter is a genius” Tony brags to Bruce. 

“I reckon he could give us a run for our money” Tony continues bragging as Peters' cheeks start to colour at the comment. 

“Is this your progeny Stark?” Asks Thor as he claps a hand around Peters' shoulder. 

“What? No Peter isn't my child Thor” Tony reacts to Thor's comment. 

“Can you give me one second?” Tony asks Thor and Bruce who nod. 

“Make yourself at home I won’t be a moment,” he tells them as leading Peter away. 

“I know you like to keep your identity a secret and more and more people have been finding out lately but Bruce is going to be living at the tower again and Thor, like you pointed out before is a literal god so it’s not going to take him long to figure out, if its anything to you kiddo I trust the both of them a lot” Tony tells Peter. 

"so what do you say? just rip the band-aid off?” Tony asks him. Peter thinks about it for a minute before he nods. 

“If you trust them, then I trust them,” he says as they make their way back into the lounge.

Tony takes a seat on the couch as Peter tells Thor and Bruce who he is, what he can do and how he obtained these powers. That part has Tony intently listening, as Peter kind of brushed off that question when they first met, and he hadn't thought to bring it up again. Bitten by a radioactive spider was a new one Tony thought to himself as Peter continued to talk about everything including how he and Tony met for the first time. Which has both men concerned over the fact that the Avengers broke up and had a battle between themselves? 

“Do not worry my friends, my brother and I have had many fights, we have also fought on opposite sides of a battle as you guys know. Having helped me in that battle but we have learnt to forgive and forget over time, which is what will happen with you and the rest of the team in due time” Thor says clapping a hand on Tony’s back. 

Usually, a comment bringing up the rogue Avengers would have upset him, but Thor's comment was just so hopeful that it bought a smile to his face. No one knew of this but for the past few months, Tony had indeed been working tirelessly on a new accord, which will hopefully make everyone happy. It’s a work in progress and has a lot of work ahead of him but just as Thor said it will work and come together in due time. Thor stays and talks for a few hours, he tells Tony how he ran into Banner, how they escaped and how he, unfortunately, lost his home. 

He brushes off Tony and Peters' sympathies saying that it is not the residency that makes a home but the people in whom you care deeply for and share that space with that truly makes a place home. He is excited about the journey he is going to take with his friends, new and old to find a new home. Bruce goes on to talk about how nice it is to finally be home and how they have a lot of catching up to do before he heads down to his abandoned laboratory to clean it up and restore it to what it once was two years ago. 

“I must bid the farewell,” Thor says getting up. 

“It’s always good seeing you Stark,” he says grasping Tony's hand in his firm grasp once again. 

“It was a pleasure to meet you man of spiders, I wish you luck on all your future adventures tiny hero,” Thor says shaking Peters' hand. 

“It was a pleasure to spend some quality time with you and the Hulk, Banner,” Thor says 

“Hulk is quite an intelligent fellow you know” He comments before he takes off.

Today sure started horribly, but boy did it get better Peter thinks to himself as he takes the tram home. His throat feels a little sore but that’s probably due to all the embarrassing yelling and screaming he did when he found out he was going to meet Thor. May comes home a few minutes after him. Peter greets her at the door, hugging her as he apologizes for his attitude this morning. 

“It’s fine I understand, I know it’s hard with all the changes your body is going through, your body coursing with all these hormones and teenage angst” she teases. 

“haha May, really funny,” he says stopping her from talking. 

“I’m sorry, I’m only joking,” she says messing his hair up as he rolls his eyes at her. 

“So gross,” he tells her 

“You are blossoming into a handsome young man, it’s not gross,” she tells him kissing him on the forehead as he groans. 

“Please, I’m begging you, stop talking” Peter sighs falling onto the couch, smothering his face with a pillow. 

May just laughs as she goes to put her handbag away in her bedroom. After tea Peter starting to think that maybe the sore throat isn't from all the yelling he was doing, his head feels a little achy and his nose is running. Peter 'heads to bed' after dinner, changing into his suit to go on patrol for a few hours, because even if this a cold with his advanced healing he’ll be right as rain tomorrow morning and ready for another day at school, so there's really no need to worry Aunt May over something that will nothing in a few hours.

4 hours later Peter crawls into his bedroom window exhausted. He got caught in a storm and got absolutely soaked. He peels off his drenched suit thinking about how nice hot shower would be right now, but if Aunt May wakes up she’ll wonder why he's showering at 1 in the morning. Peter groggily changes into his Pajamas and falls into bed, shivering as he pulls his blankets tighter around himself falling into a restless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Failure Will Never Overtake Me If My Determination To Succeed Is Strong Enough.” – Og Mandino


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are you doing !? I hope you are happy and healthy

Peter wakes up the next morning and he feels like crap, all he wants to do is curl up in bed and fall back asleep, but he forces himself out of bed. Having finally fixed the shower Peter sighs as he lets the hot water slowly warm him up and soothe his aching muscles. He seriously considers taking some cold and flu medicine, but his metabolism will burn it off before it even has time to take effect, so he sighs and grabs some toast for breakfast, despite really not feeling hungry but eats none the less, knowing he’ll kick himself later for not at least trying to eat something. 

Peter manages to eat half the toast while he walks to the tram station not attempting to finish the rest as he starts to feel queasy. Peter gets onto the tram sitting down pressing his burning forehead against the cold glass, sighing at the small bit of relief it provides. Ned and MJ are both back at school today having recovered from the flu, but it seems it's his turn now.

He really should have seen this coming everyone in the school has had the flu at some point this month. Peter thought given his abilities maybe he would skip flu season this year. He was wrong. By lunchtime, he has gotten many concerned looks from his friends as well as a couple suggestion to go home, not only by Ned and MJ but from a few teachers as well. And honestly, he wants to take their suggestion to go home and curl up in his nice warm bed and sleep but it’s lunchtime, only a few hours left, he can make it to the end of the day.

He doesn't want to make May look bad a week into her new job by making her leave early to pick up a sick kid. Peter pushes his lunch away from him, the smell of the meatloaf making him nauseous. He puts his face on the table enjoying the cold metal cooling down his burning skin. 

Seriously considering trying to have a quick nap during the lunch break. MJ forces Peter to eat at least a little bit of his lunch, telling him that she only started to recover from her case of the flu after she started eating. Peter manages to eat half of his lunch before his stomach lurches. He gets up quickly running to the nearest bathroom, he feels his stomach lurch again gagging as he put his hand over his mouth, moving faster.

Peter feel hands grab him and move him over a bin just as he loses his lunch. Peter looks up at Ned smiling weakly 

“I’m taking you to the nurse,” Ned tells Peter, who opens his mouth to argue, but it’s not words that come out his mouth when he opens it to speak. 

Ned walks Peter into the nurse’s office and sits him down on one of the beds as the nurse goes to call his Aunt May. 

“You can’t call my Aunt” Peter tells the nurse who has the phone to her ear ready to call 

“She started a new job she's only been there for a week, she won’t be able to pick me up” Peter groans as his stomach squeezes 

“I’ll try the other number then,” the nurse says with a sigh.

Peter only half registers what she is saying because his head is pounding. He also couldn't hear her over the sound of him blowing his nose which was running like a faucet. Ned brings him over a glass of water and a bucket. 

“Thank you,” Peter says taking the glass of water sipping it slowly as Ned places the bucket next to Peter on the bed. 

The next thing Peter knows he’s being gently shaken awake by Ned who’s telling him Mr Stark is here.

“Mr Stark?” Peter says slightly confused sitting up. 

“Yeah, Mr Stark kiddo” Peter hears a familiar voice confirm. 

Peter opens his eyes to see Tony standing in the door of the nurse’s office, signing him out of school. 

“Let’s get you out of here,” Tony says as Peter grabs his bag which Ned just handed to him. 

“Bye Peter, feel better, I’ll tell the teachers why you aren't in class,” Ned says before walking out the door. 

Peter slowly makes his way to the car parked out front, Happy opens the door for him, Peter gives him a small smile as he crawls into the car buckling himself in. Peter closes his eyes and leans his head against the window as Tony slides in next to him, they have only been on the road for about 5 minutes when Peter starts to shiver in the seat. Happy notices and turns on the seat warmer, Peter relaxes into the warmth feeling his eyelids droop, wow he’s exhausted. 

Peter doesn't get a chance to nod off, because a few minutes later his stomach starts to churn. 

"M’Stark, M’gonna be sick,” Peter warns Tony clamping his hand tight over his mouth trying to breathe through the waves of nausea. 

“hit! Happy, pull the hell over!” Tony yells, Peter flinching at the sound because Tony is so loud, and his head is killing him. 

“I can’t I am in the middle of traffic on the highway” Happy replies irritated.

Peter groans as he tries to swallow the vomit rising in his throat, but his stomach lurches violently for a second time. He tries to fight it, to hold it for just a few more seconds but it’s too late. 

“Shit” Mr stark swears as Peter heaves, throwing up all over the car as well as his and Tony shoes.

Peter starts to tear up with embarrassment as he feels so shitty and he realizes what he has just done. 

“Sorry, sorry, I'm really sorry,” Peter says shakily a hacking cough cutting him off. 

“It’s….fine Peter, it’s really fine, it’s fucking gross but it’s not your fault,” Tony tells the kid as he blows his nose and wipes away the tears that are stinging in his eyes. 

“We are almost there,” Tony tells Peter sympathetically when he lets out a whine and presses his forehead against the cold glass.

Finally, the car comes to a stop. Peter slowly gets out of the car and closes the door. 

“Get this steam cleaned please Happy,” Tony says as he gets out the other side.

“I ruined it, sorry” Peter apologizes to Tony again as he grabs his bag. 

“I’ll be fine once it' cleaned, don’t worry about it,” Tony says. 

Tony actually doesn't sound mad at all, if anything he sounds……worried?

“hit kid you’re really burning up,” Tony tells Peter as he places a cool hand on Peters' forehead, once they are inside. 

“Friday, what’s Peters temperature?” Tony calls out, pulling his hand away. 

“Peters current temperature is currently 104 degrees” Friday responds.

Peter is still shivering as he sits on the couch, Tony leaves coming back a few moments later with pillows and blankets. 

“Lay down Under roos,” Tony says as he places the pillows on the couch.

Peter happily lies down, hoping it will help fight off some of the dizziness. Tony puts the blankets on the young boy who snuggles into them enjoying the warmth. Peter hates getting sick, he is always so tired, so he closes his eyes to try and get some sleep. 

“I uh” Tony clears his throat. 

“I’m new to this, help me help you kiddo what do you need?” 

“Nothing, I'm fine”

“Peter come on, work with me” Tony urges him 

“you’re here until Aunt May picks you up at 8, so make my job easy,” Tony says impatiently. 

Peter laughs pitifully. 

“Come on, anything at all, that makes you feel better when you’re sick?” Tony prompts. 

“Company?” Peter answers looking up at him. 

“Easy enough,” Tony says sitting down on the couch.

Tony turns on the TV and Peter squeezes his eyes shut, trying to breathe evenly as his headache gets worse. 

“How are you holding up?” Tony asks nudging Peters foot with his. 

“I have a really bad headache,” Peter tells him truthfully. 

“Cold and flu medicine?” Tony Asks 

“Doesn't work remember" Peter reminds him.

“Friday tell Bruce to come here please,” Tony says and Bruce comes up the stairs a few minutes later. 

“He okay?” Bruce asks as he sees Peter laying on the couch. 

“Kid caught the flu,” Tony tells his friend. 

“He has an insanely fast metabolism. I think it may be even faster than spangles, therefore regular medicine doesn't do shit, think you could formulate something to help him feel better?” Tony questions, Bruce nods

"lucky I already have the formula for drugs that work on Steve saved to my hard drive, I’ll need a blood sample and a few hours, but it shouldn't take too long if all I need to do is increase the chemical compounds,” he says. 

“Is it okay if I take a blood sample, Peter?” Bruce asks Peter who nods sleepily.

Once Bruce has Peters blood sample, he goes back down to the lab to work on some medicine that will hopefully work on him. Peter hates feeling so lethargic, so he tries to sleep it off but starts to get frustrated as he is constantly interrupted by hacking coughs. Peter can’t stop coughing and after a good solid minute, his throat feels raw, the feeling of bile rising in his throat causes him to panic, as a bin is shoved into his hands. Peter retches into the bin, the bile burning his throat.

Tony winces as Peter retches into the bucket 

“I hate this, it sucks,” Peter says his voice raw and barely above a whisper as he squeezes his eyes shut. 

“Headache still giving you trouble,” he asks the kid. 

Peter gives a slow nod not opening his eyes. Having seen May do this before (after she picked him from the Stark Tower after he got food poisoning at school) Tony knew what he could do to provide at least a little bit of comfort. He gets up and sits down beside Peters' head. Tony lifts his hand, hesitating before he brings his hand down to gently comb through Peters sweaty curls. Peter sighs softly some of the tension leaving his shoulders. 

“Mr Stark? you don't have to do this you know” Peter says remembering what the others said about Tony and touch, despite the obvious comfort and relief it was providing him. 

“I know,” Tony tells him not ceasing his movement. 

5 minutes later Peter is fast asleep. Tony wakes him up a few hours later passing him some soup because Bruce has some medicine that he thinks might work. Tony doesn't want Peter to take them on an empty stomach, so he encourages the young boy to eat. Peter eats half the soup before it all comes back up, Tony is reluctant to give Peter the drugs on an empty stomach, but Bruce says that it should be fine. He hands Peter two from the bottle as well as some water. Peter takes them gratefully and half an hour later the remaining tension in Peters body melts away. 

They work?” Tony asks Peter, who hums softly in response before he falls back asleep. 

Bruce was able to make two lots of pills, so he puts one bottle in the first aid kit and another in Peters school bag, so he has some for home. Tony quietly leaves the room, leaving Peter to sleep to go find Bruce in his lab 

“They worked great Bruce” Tony informs his friend. 

“Glad I could help him feel better, I've only talked to him the once, but he seems like a pretty great kid,” says Bruce. 

“He’s the best” Tony agrees with him sitting down. 

He was planning to spend a little downtime with Bruce, but Friday informs him that Peter is awake, and he is up and out of his chair heading back to the lounge room, when did he become so damn protective over this kid? he thinks to himself.

Ever since Tony gave Peter the suit he has felt that Peters safety was his obligation……..but now it felt more like a responsibly, it wasn't a task anymore. Tony was more than happy to drop everything and anything to make sure Peter was okay. Tch, kids right?. 

“How are you feeling Spiderling?” Tony asks the young boy walking into the lounge room. 

“Gross” Peter replies smiling at him, blowing his nose

“Getting sick is the worst,” he says. 

“Yeah, it's not my idea of a fun time either” Tony agrees. 

Peter gives a small laugh which is interrupted by another coughing fit. 

"It feels like I swallowed sandpaper” Peter notes his voice raspy. 

“Sounds like it too,” Tony says bringing him another bottle of water. 

“Try not to speak,” Tony says uncapping it for him. 

“ice cream?” Tony questions

A smile and a nod,

“Star Wars?” Tony ask again 

A bigger smile and another nod.

Huh, Tony thinks to himself as he grabs two pints of ice-cream and two spoons. I’m not so terrible at this after all. Thanks to the drugs Bruce made, Peter manages to keep the ice cream down. They are halfway through the fourth movie when Friday informs Tony that May has arrived at the ower. Peter is asleep again so Tony tells Friday to bring her on up. 

“Thank you so much for this Mr Stark,” May says as she comes into the room. 

“I don't know how I can begin to thank you for picking him up and looking after him for 8 hours if I had known,” She says looking over at Peter. 

“It’s no trouble May and please call me Tony” Tony requests

“The kid didn't want to bother you at your new job, he thought you would get in trouble for leaving early, he didn't want to cause trouble” Tony explains why Peter had the nurse call him and not her.

"He really is the sweetest boy,” She says moving over to him and combing the hair out his eyes. 

“I completely agree” Tony agree wholeheartedly as Peter stirs

“May,” Peter says sitting up and hugging her close. 

“How are you feeling” May ask Peter pushing his hair back and placing a kiss on his forehead. 

“mmm okay,” Peter says leaning into Mays touch. 

“Let's get you home,” she says grabbing Peters things as he stands up.

“Thank you again, Tony, I appreciate you taking care of my boy,” May says.

“Yeah, thanks a lot Mr Stark,” Peter says smiling gratefully. 

“I uhm hope it wasn't too much of a problem,” he says. 

“You’re never a problem Peter,” Tony says as Peter and May turn to leave. 

Since the very first day Tony had met Peter he had wormed himself into Tony's heart and now that damn kid has Tony wrapped around his little finger and quite honestly, to tell you the truth, Tony couldn't care less. Peter Parker was an amazing kid that Tony feels he doesn't deserve to know, let alone share such a close bond with, but he’d be damned if he didn’t earn that right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “We May Encounter Many Defeats But We Must Not Be Defeated.” – Maya Angelou


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry.......

A few days later after Bruce had settled in Tony and Bruce were in the lab just enjoying some one on one time together catching up after the few years they haven't seen one another. Bruce didn't want to go into great detail about what happened on Skaar briefly telling only about being a champion in a fighting ring and a few other concerning factors to Bruce’s “vacation”.

“Dr Banner, Boss, Peter has arrived” Friday informs the two men. 

“Bring him down to the lab Friday,” Bruce instructs the AI.

A few minutes later Peter enters the lab joining the two men taking in every inch of the room in complete astonishment. 

“This place is amazing, I love it here,” Peter said continuing to wander around Bruce’s lab completely awestruck. 

“Hey, you’ve never said that about my amazingly brilliant workshop” Tony teases. 

“You know how awesome I think your workshop is, even without me telling you Mr Stark. It’s one of my favourite places in the whole building, I get to work on my suit and watch you work on yours and” Peter backtracks immediately. 

“I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, you are way too easy to get riled up” Tony smiles at Peter, who in turn gives him a sheepish smile, shrugging.

Peter watches Bruce work for hours, asking question after question, which Bruce politely answers.

As the evening carries on Peter bombards him with more and more questions about what Bruce is working on at the moment, what his future projects are going to be, how he got the ideas for past projects. Bruce is the happiest Tony has seen him in a long time, because of all Peters questions, as endless as they might seem. Are all science and theory-based, no questions arising about the other guy whatsoever. Tony knows not to bring about the Hulk, being such a sensitive topic for his friend. 

Peter on the other hand unlike many other young kids his age is Starstruck over Dr Bruce Banner the scientific genius, not Bruce Banner the man who turns into a green rage monster when he loses his temper. Bruce throws in a couple of questions himself and is surprised at Peters intelligence, answering Bruce’s questions correctly easily. 

“Tony told me you had brains Peter, but you really are something,” Bruce tells Peter who turns bright red at the other man’s compliment. 

“What do you think Tony? Should we make him an honorary science bro?” Bruce asks Peter. 

“Science bro?” Peter asks, somehow managing to sound excited despite his obvious confusion. 

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Bruce, just watch him though, he might overtake us one day. Let’s get on his good side while we can” Tony remarks elbowing the younger boy, teasing him.

“Whatever” Peter mumbles so quietly that Tony almost didn’t catch the youngsters remark.

“Are you sure Dr Banner sir?” Peter asks looking up at Bruce who smiles

“I wouldn’t have said it if I weren’t sure” he replies 

"This is the greatest day of my life” Peter responds immediately starting to ramble about how awesome not only Bruce is, but his work and how he never dreamed he would get to do actual science, with the actual Bruce Banner. Bruce and Tony laugh at the young boy’s excitement as the three science bros exit Bruce’s lab.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s Friday evening, which Peter has been looking forward to all week because he and May and are going out to their favourite Thai restaurant to celebrate her first few weeks at her new job. They sit eating, talking and laughing for hours. After they leave the restaurant they go and get ice cream. The two sit on a park bench and talk, enjoying each other’s company. Peter was momentarily distracted by a plane flying overhead when he feels something cold get shoved into his face. 

“MAY!” he yells laughing as he wipes off the ice cream she smeared all over his face, throwing it back at her. 

“I was full,” she said laughing

“So you shove it in my FACE” Peter questions, laughing harder as some lands on her glasses. 

The two clean up quickly as they walk back home, bursting into fits of laughter every so often.

Once they get home they build a blanket fort and settle onto the couch, planning to watch movies all night long. They watch Mary Poppins singing along to all the songs, crying with laughter as they attempt to dance along. The reenact scenes from The Matrix, before settling down, drinking hot chocolate and throwing popcorn into the air attempting to catch it, until the sun starts to rise on a brand-new day. 

They both head off to bed to get a few hours’ sleep because they have even more planned for today. May now having every second weekend free from work, Peter and May and have decided to start planning things to do on a Saturday. Because it’s summer and it's getting warmer they planned a day out at the beach. 

Peter wakes up 5 hours later, he hums softly as he makes and packs some sandwiches and a couple of drinks. He makes a start on his homework as he waits for May to wake up. May is awake up a few hours later a ready and raring to go. The only homework Peter has left is his reading assignment for English, but he easily can do that later, so he grabs the packed picnic basket and races May to the car. 

They are driving along in the car, singing loudly and obnoxiously to the songs on the radio, once they get to the beach, he runs right into the water, screaming about how cold it is before going right under. He pops up grinning, shaking his head as he sees his Aunt, not even up to her waist, slowly inching her way towards Peter 

“The quicker you do it the sooner it's over,” he tells her, splashing her with an evil laugh.

She gasps as the cold wave of water hits her. 

“You’re grounded,” she tells Peter splashing him back. 

“You can’t do that!” he tells her. 

“Says who?” she fires back. 

“Ummm me?” he replies smirking.

“Oh, really tough guy? since when?” she says pushing Peter under, has finally made her way to him. 

“Since always” he answers, popping back up, splashing her again. 

They laugh as they continue to splash each other.

They spend a few hours in the water, playing a game of frisbee. They eventually get out the water to eat lunch, letting the sundry and warm them. Peter lays back on his beach towel looking at the clouds 

“That one there looks like a fish,” he tells May as she lies down next to him. 

"It does too if you tilt your head a little that one sort of looks like a rabbit,” she says pointing to another cloud. 

“Oh yeah,” he says tilting his head. 

They swim for a few more hours after that, packing their stuff as they watch the sun go down. 

"I always love watching the sunset on a beach, it looks like the sun is being swallowed up by the ocean,” May says smiling as she watches the sun go down. 

Peter smiles and nods a small yawn escaping him. 

“Well I’m beat,” May says as they are driving home. 

“How about a relaxing movie day at home tomorrow?” she suggests. 

“Sounds good May” Peter agrees smiling, he decides to skip patrol tonight. 

Peter knows it’s a little selfish of him but May suggested that they play some board games and watch a movie after dinner. Today had just been so fun that he doesn't want it to end. After he got his powers, Ben passed and despite being closer than ever from that moment. Peter couldn't help but feel he and his Aunt spent less and less time together, she was always at work or running errands. If he wasn't at school, he was with Tony Stark, he’d even go to bed early some nights, so he could fit in a few more hours of patrol. So, he has been loving this past few weeks because he gets to spend so much more time with his amazing Aunt. 

“Hey May?” Peter calls out as Aunt May calls it a night with a yawn, getting herself ready for bed. 

“Thank you, for everything,” Peter says standing and hugging her tightly.

She smiles and hugs back 

“Of course Peter, I love you so much,” she says kissing the top of his head. 

“I love you too May” he lets her go smiling as she closes her bedroom door going to sleep.

Peter wakes up early the next morning to make Aunt May some breakfast in bed. An hour later he places the bacon and eggs on some toast, along with a big cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin on a tray and carefully takes it into her room. Peter knocks on the door, he hears her opening her blinds telling him to come in. He opens the door and places the tray on her lap. 

“Good morning May” he greets, hugging her. 

“Good morning Peter, I thought I smelled bacon, thank you so much,” she says as she begins to eat. 

Peter goes back into the kitchen, grabbing his plate sitting on the edge of her bed listening as she tells him about the crazy dream she had. Peter packs up and does the dishes before sitting down with May a big bowl of popcorn on his lap as he and May begin to binge movies, they take it in turns picking the movie she starts the movie day off with Coco looking at each other, laughing as the movie ends as they see that they both have tears in their eyes, so Peter follows with White Chicks. They watch movie after movie as the credits roll on the most recent movie. May stands up stretching 

“I’m pretty hungry, how about you?” she asks. 

Peters stomach answers for him, growling. 

“I’m going to go ahead and take that as a yes,” she says moving toward the kitchen. 

“How do nachos sound?” she says grabbing cheese out the fridge. 

“Like the best idea, ever” Peter answers walking into the kitchen grabbing the Doritos out the cupboard.

15 minutes later another movie begins to play as they start to devour the nachos. 

“I’ll cook dinner,” Peter says getting up when it starts to get close to dinner time. 

Peter looks at the ingredients they have left in the fridge and cupboard. May does the grocery shopping Monday nights on her way home from work or Peter will do it on his way home from school, so there is the bare minimum in the cupboard it being a Sunday night. Peter finds some noodles in the cupboard and they have some vegetables in the fridge, so he ends up making a vegetable stir-fry. Peter hands over Mays bowl to her as they continue watching the movie. 

“This is nice, Peter well done” May complements him. 

“Maybe I should add it to the list of 6 things I know how to cook” He jokes laughing.

She shakes her head laughing at him as she finishes her food, taking Peters empty bowl for him and beginning to wash up. “I’ll help,” Peter says grabbing a tea towel drying the clean dishes. After all the dishes are clean, dry and put away. Aunt May goes into her room and comes back out with her handbag. 

“I need to pick my uniform up from the dry cleaners,” she tells Peter, putting her coat on. 

“Do you want to come? we can get ice cream on the way home” She offers. 

“That’s okay Aunt May, it's getting kinda late and I have a bit of English homework to do, I should probably finish that before school tomorrow” Peter explains.

“That’s a good idea, Peter, I won’t be long anyhow, see you in a bit, I love you,” she says. 

“Bye May, I love you too, drive safe” Peter answers as she smiles and closes the door.

Peter goes back into his room to finish doing his readings for English, for doing nothing all day he sure is tired. Peter sighs as he opens his English book to answer the questions for the chapter he just read.

Peter wakes up an hour later having fallen asleep. 

“Ew,” he says wiping his face when he sees the pool of drool on his desk.

Peter pushes away from his desk to grab a glass of water. May still isn't home, which is weird because the dry cleaners is a ten-minute drive from their house and she been gone for almost two hours. Peter feels his anxiety kick in as he runs to his room to grab his phone to call his Aunt, the phone rings in his hand before he can call. 

“Hello?” he answers the phone. 

“Hello, is this Peter Parker” A man's voice responds. 

“Yes?” Peter replies his voice beginning to shake. 

“Who are you…. I… is everything okay” Peter asks the stranger, his voice trembling. 

“I’m sorry Mr Parker, but May Parker has been involved in an accident”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Whether You Think You Can Or Think You Can’t, You’re Right.” – Quote By Henry Ford


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are having a wonderful day. Thank you for reading! enjoy :)

Tony’s phone rings jolting him awake. He groans rolling overlooking at the time. 3:30 am who on earth would be calling at this hour? He sighs as he sits up, resting on an elbow grabbing his phone. Peters name showing up on the screen. Seeing It’s Peter calling Tony is now wide awake with panic. He answers the call hastily, the only thing he can hear is broken sobs coming from the other end of the line. 

“Pe-“Tony begins to say but he’s cut off as the kid speaks. 

“I-I,m so-sorry” Peter chokes.

Tony hear Peter take a deep breath before he speaks again. 

“I’m sorry, Mr S-Stark. I didn’t k-know who else t-to c-call” Tony is already up out of bed and running to the garage. 

"I’m coming to you Peter, I’m coming, it’s okay, are you hurt?” He asks in a panic, as he gets into his Ironman suit.

“Locate Peter Parker F.R.I.D.A.Y, get me there as fast as possible” Tony speaks, trying to remain calm, this is not the time to have a panic attack, Peter needs him. 

“Peter Parker, Located, Queen's hospital, arrival will be in 20 minutes” Friday Speaks. 

“Peter, talk to me, are you okay, what’s happened, are you hurt” Tony ask Peter, as he flies towards the hospital. 

He waits a solid minute before he hears Peters quiet voice on the other end of the line. 

“Not me, Aunt May” Peter sobs

Shit thinks Tony. 

“She…. she’s…. g...gone Mr Stark” Peter cries out.

He sounds so broken, and Tony isn't there to pick up the pieces, Tony pushes the suit just a little bit faster. Tony runs into the hospital. 

“May Parker,” he says to the receptionist, starting to run again as she tells him the room number. 

Peter is sat, holding onto his Aunt's hand, crying onto her chest. The kid didn't even hear him come in, unsure of what do to, Tony stands there for a few minutes wanting nothing more than to go and console Peter and just hold him, but he doesn’t know if that's what the kid wanted or needed right now.

A few minutes pass and Peter must have sensed him in the room, as he looks up and locks eyes with him. Tony moves closer to the crying boy who uses his free hand to pull Tony closer, now crying into his chest. Peters' other hand not letting go of Mays. Tony just holds the boy as he cries, he’s not going to tell Peter some bullshit like everything is okay, because it’s not. He recalls the time, the nurse told him the same thing when his parents had passed and just how angry he had been at her words, 

“Everything hurts,” Peter says, his voice just above a whisper and muffled by Tony's shirt. 

“I know Peter, I know,” Tony says as Peter holds onto him tighter. 

Another half-hour passes, and Peter pulls away. 

“I… I can't be here…... it hurts… I can’t b…be here a... anymore” Peter chokes out. 

“Okay kid, alright,” Tony says, putting his hand on Peters' shoulder as he stands.

Peter is still holding on tightly to Mays' hand, he squeezes his eyes shut and takes a deep breath his grip on Mays' hand loosens before it tightens again. 

“I can’t, I don't want to let her go,” Peter says. 

“Take your time Peter, take as long as you need, do you need me to leave you alone for a while?” Tony asks the young boy, holding back his tears at the heartbreaking sight.

Peters grip on his jacket sleeve tightens as he shakes his head vigorously. 

"Don’t…. go, p…. please, d..do...don't go” Peter says, his grip tightening even more. 

“I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me, Peter, I’m right here,” Tony says, tightening his grip around Peters' shoulder. 

"I’m right here” he continues to console. 

Peter takes another deep breath before he speaks again, this time to Aunt May. 

“I’m s..so sorry May, I love you so much, I already miss you,” Peter says.

He let’s go of Aunt Mays hand and turns around, Tony gripping his shoulders with both hands. 

“Are you ready to go?” He asks Peter, who shakes his head but starts to walk forward slowly. 

Tony goes at the pace the kid chooses as they slowly make their way out of the room. Tony texted happy to meet them at the hospital. Happy was at the hospital 40 minutes after receiving the text, surprisingly fast for this early in the morning. Peter wasn't ready to leave for another half hour, but Happy insisted he was happy to wait for as long as Peter needed. Peter is silent on the drive back, a steady stream of tears flowing down his cheeks, Tony half carries Peter into the house when they arrive, due to the boy being completely dead on his feet.

He gently lowers the teen to the couch, sitting down next to him. Peter curls into Tony side, gripping his arm painfully tight but Tony doesn't say anything as he flicks a movie on, hoping background noise would be better for Peter then complete silence. Peter cries himself to sleep 2 hours later, waiting until Peter is in a deep sleep to move him, Tony slips his arms under the boys’ legs and back, carrying Peter to his room. Tony pulls the covers over Peter, turning to leave but Peter is awake and gripping his arm again. 

“Don’t wanna be alone” Peter says.

Tony nods, grabbing a chair and sitting down next to Peter, repeating what he told the young boy earlier tonight at the hospital. 

“I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me to Peter, I’m right here” A few more tears fall from Peters' eyes as he nods, closing his eyes falling asleep, exhaustion finally taking over. 

After hearing Peter cry for the past three hours Tony has decided that Peter crying is the worst sound in the world and that he would do everything in his power to make sure the kid never shed another tear.

Tony wakes up around 8 am, turning to see that Peter is still asleep, he slowly starts to get up, not wanting to wake Peter as he gets up to use the bathroom. 

“Mr Stark?” a small voice calls. 

Tony turns to see Peter looking at him rubbing his eyes.

“I’ll be right back, I’m just going to the toilet,” Tony tells him gently. 

Tony finishes up in the bathroom and walks back into Peters bedroom. 

“I’m sorry,” Peter says his voice shaking. 

Tony confused is, he’s about to ask Peter why he's sorry before Peter starts to speak again. 

‘I don’t mean to be a burden Mr Stark” Peter says, choking on the tears that are starting to fall from his eyes. 

“Hey hey, you are anything but a burden Peter,” Tony says, rushing back over to the bed and pulling Peter into a hug. 

”I don’t know where I’m gonna go,” Peter says tearing up again. 

“Here silly” Tony replies immediately.

“Really Mr Stark?” Peter asks, wiping some of the tears from his eyes. 

“Yeah, kid really” Tony replies having never been so sure of something in his life.

Peter looks up at Tony in shock, tears starting to fall again. 

“I don’t...... I don’t how I can thank you enough, let alone even begin to pay you back Mr Stark” Peter mumbles, looking down at his feet. 

“I Do” Tony answers. 

Peter looks at him questioningly. 

“Call me Tony” he smiles. 

“T-thank you so much M....... T-Tony” Peters voice shakes, so he pulls the kid in closer. 

A few days later and all the poor kid does is stay in his room or cling to Tony. Peter didn't eat anything the day after May passed saying that he wasn't hungry, nor did he want to eat on the second day. Tony, however, made him eat a sandwich before they sat on the couch together and watched a movie. 

“Do you know how to raise a kid?” Nat asks Tony, looking at Peter who was now curled up on the couch fast asleep. 

“No and it scares the hell out of me” Tony admits truthfully. 

“But I’m going to learn,” he tells her, as he pulls out a blanket from behind the couch and puts it over Peter.

Tony is having a lot more trouble sleeping than usual, his head swarming with thoughts about Peter and how he is coping with all of this. Thinking about how he was going to cope with all of this. He's looked after Peter for a few weeks before, but now this is real. Tony is the only parental type figure in his life and he doesn't know if he is going to do well. 

Peter is such a wonderful young boy, the last thing Tony wants it to see that change. Trying to sleep is pointless, so he puts on a coat and heads to the one place he feels he needs to go, to hopefully settle some of his nerves. 

Tony Stops in front of the Parkers graves to simply talk to them, almost as if asking permission to look after Peter until he's old enough to make his own choices. He feels a little silly but deep down he feels it’s the right thing to do, as Tony continues to talk, a butterfly lands on their graves. 

“I promise I won’t fuck up your kid” Tony promises, now watching the butterfly as lands on his hand, its wings fluttering slowly before it flies off. 

Tony wasn’t one for believing in fate, heaven, hell or anything like that but even he knew that was a sign that everything was going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ” Always end the day with a positive thought. No matter how hard things were, tomorrow is a fresh opportunity to make it better.” – Unknown


	25. Chapter 25

The week following Aunt Mays Death was the worst week of Peters entire life. Mays funeral was held three days after her passing and was one of the hardest things he has ever had to do, it was a small, simple but beautiful funeral because Peter knows that's something his Aunt May would have really appreciated it. Ned and MJ found out what happened a few days after, Peter having texted them, letting them know about the situation he was now in. 

They were at the funeral and gave Peter support the whole time, which he was insanely appreciative of. Ned even helped Peter finish his eulogy when he couldn't bring himself to finish it. They have been so supportive over the past few days, Peter really couldn't ask for better friends. Tony said that he didn’t need to go back to school until he was ready, so he had the whole week off. This is his first day back at school since then and to say it sucked is an understatement. 

Everything has been going okay, but the sympathetic looks he is getting from all the teachers were starting to bug him. Peter was just staring into his locker fighting back tears. The way everyone was looking at him just keeps reminding him of everything he’s lost. Maybe today wasn’t a good day to come back to school Peter thinks, as he feels a tap on his shoulder. Turning around to be greeted by none other than Flash Thompson. Peter grits his teeth and goes to walk right past Flash because the last thing he needed was Flashes nasty comments. 

“Hey,” Flash says gently grabbing a hold of his arm.

Flash cleared his throat before he continues to speak 

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry, about your Aunt” Flash mumbled giving Peter a soft smile before turning around and leaving, this just made Peter angry he didn’t want or need sympathy, especially from Flash.

Peter gets into the car glad the day is over. 

“Hey kid,” Happy says. 

“Hey,” he says giving Happy a small smile. 

“How was it?” Happy asks

“Glad it’s over” Peter answers honestly.

Happy simply nods as he starts to drive to the Avengers Tower? Home? Peter doesn't think he’s quite ready for that yet. 

“Hey, kiddo” Tony greets. 

“Hey......Tony” Peter greets him back. 

“It still feels really weird calling you Tony,” Peter informs his mentor. 

“Well I like it, so it sticks” Tony replies. 

“Okay Tony,” Peter says sitting down on the couch.

“Hungry?” Tony asks Peter shakes his head no. 

Tony sighs but doesn't push, Peter hasn't felt hungry at all since… since Aunt May, he’s been forced to eat a few meals by the Avengers and his friends. Peter doesn't know what he hates more, feeling constantly hungry or not hungry at all. He lays down on the couch exhausted, it’s been a long day he thinks as he gets comfortable on the couch, hoping maybe he can take a quick nap because he hadn't been sleeping well either. Peter hasn't done a lot of things, but he knows it will get better with time he just has to tough it out and keep moving forward until breathing becomes a little easier and everything says to feel okay again.

Tony comes and sits next to him flicking on the TV. 

“You want to talk about your day at school?” Tony asks Peter. 

“Ned and MJ were really supportive if I get one more sad look from a teacher I might scream” Peter answers, giving him a brief description of his day. 

Tony laughs at Peters comment about the teachers. 

“Flash was nice to me today, it was really weird and made me angry if I'm honest,” Peter tells Tony who is listening intently. 

Tony nods understandingly 

“One day at a time Peter, it’s all any of us can do,” Tony tells Peter smiling. 

“I know” Peter answers, laying down putting his head on Tony's lap, who smiles at Peter before he turns his attention back to the TV.

It’s kind of lame but Tony and Peter have started watching cooking shows together, in the hopes of becoming better cooks. 

Once the program is over Peter gets up and head to his room, so he can focus on his homework, homework is good, it’s a part of his normal routine, plus it provides a distraction from the shit storm that is his life right now, and with missing a week of school he has quite a bit of catching up to do, but he has been given a few extra days considering the circumstances.

Peter takes a break from homework a few hours in. Speaking of routine, he hasn't been out as Spider-Man since either, for two reasons mostly he just hasn't felt up to it but he also can’t help but feel insanely guilty knowing that Aunt May died without knowing the truth. 

Peter shoves those feelings down so sick of crying, but the tears come anyway. Peter walks into the kitchen and seeing Natasha leaning on the counter eating an apple. 

“Hey Peter, how are you going?” she asks. 

“Okay,” he mumbles as more tears fall he wipes them away angrily. 

“Come here,” she says pulling him into a tight hug. 

“Have you seen Tony?” He asks her, leaning into the hug. 

“Tony is in a meeting right now” she answers.

"Could you tell him I went on patrol for a little while?” Peter asks, giving her a small smile. 

She nods as Peter go back to his room to change into his suit, swing out into the streets of New York feeling a little more alive as he swings from building to building, breathing in the fresh air.

The next day at school isn't so bad, coming back to school after being gone for a week is old news and the teachers have all paid their respects and have gone back to normal. Peter knows they are still giving him a little leeway but whatever. All in all, today is going better that is until lunchtime. Peter is sitting alone at the usual lunch spot waiting for Ned and MJ to come to join him. 

“I went to Barbados last week” an obnoxious voice drawls walking over to the table. 

"I heard you weren't at school for a different reason” Nick continues talking as he stops in front of and Peter freezes. 

“My dad loves hot sauce, so he bought like four bottles of this stuff” Nick continues to talk. 

Peter just wants to get up and leave but he can’t move. He shoves something roughly into Peters' hand he looks down to see what it is as his friends sit down, MJ tells Nick to piss off as Peter looks down at the bottle and sees that is called Aunt Mays hot sauce. Peter gets up from the table as his vision blurs, from anger or tears, he’s not sure but his legs are moving before he can think about it, going faster and faster until he is out the cafeteria doors. 

Nick follows Peter and asks if he found the joke funny, when Peter doesn't reply Nick hits him a few times for “being rude” because apparently the internal pain Nick has caused him isn't enough, a teacher comes out the classroom yelling at Nick and as he is distracted Peter grabs his stuff out his locker not worrying about the school rules. 

He has to leave, so he’s out the door and out the gates not looking back, Peter ducks into an alley putting his suit on swinging further and further away from school. He stops when he can’t see the school anymore and just sits atop a building just staring off into space when he feels his phone buzzing as he gets dozens of messages from Ned

Guy in the chair: Hey Peter you okay??  
Guy in the chair: right…  
Guy in the chair: Stupid Question my bad  
Guy in the chair: Nicks an asshole  
Guy in the chair: OMG dude you will never guess what just happened  
Guy in the chair: idk if I'm dreaming or not  
Guy in the chair: Peter?  
Guy in the chair: you’re safe right?  
Peter: Yeah, I’m safe  
Guy in the chair: guess what just happened?  
Peter: What happened?  
Guy in the chair: Flash, he totally just punched Nick in the face  
Peter: WAIT  
Peter: WHAT!?!  
Peter: WHY???  
Guy in the chair: He heard what Nick said to you dude…...  
Peter: I mean that can’t be right I'm mean…. WHAT!?  
Guy in the chair: I know dude it was crazy!!  
Guy in the chair: Pretty cool of him to stick up for you.  
Peter: totally cool  
Peter: I wonder why though?  
Guy in the chair: idk man  
Peter: Might have to talk to him about it  
Guy in the chair: gtg man the teacher just caught me on phone  
Peter: bye dude

“Boss, Peter has left the school grounds” Friday informs Tony who looks up from the project he was working on. 

“What?” he asks angrily. 

“Peter put on the suit at 1:20 pm and is currently two kilometres away from where his school is located ” Friday speaks. 

“Send me his location Friday” he instructs her as he gets into his suit getting ready to go and get the kid. 

Tony arrives at Peters designation in record time landing on the roof. Peter spins around and looks at Tony. 

“Care to tell me why you ran away from school?” Tony asks him sternly. 

“Not really” Peter replies. 

Tony sighs. 

“Come on, let’s go,” he tells Peter who nods again getting up and following Tony back to the tower. 

When they get home, Peter goes into his room to change. Tony furrows his eyes at Peters choice of clothing. It’s hot outside and Peter has jeans and a hoodie on. Tony doesn't mention it though, not wanting to push Peter assuming he has had a rough day already for him to leave school without permission. They watch the TV for a little while, it really is hot today, so Tony asks Friday to turn up the air conditioners. Tony glances back at Peter seeing the kid he is still wearing a hoodie. 

“Aren’t you hot kid?” Tony questions Peter. 

“Nope,” he says turning to look at Tony. 

The sweat on his hairline says differently. 

“You’re sweating” Tony points out. 

Peter wipes his forehead before sighing and taking off the jumper, he is covered in bruises. 

“They're from patrol last night,” Peter tells Tony before he even asks. 

“Do I have to remind you how terrible you are a liar?” Tony says sighing. 

“Your healing factor would have started to take care of those if they were from last night, they look recent,” Tony says proving his point about Peter lying. 

“Try again,” he says.

“Fell down the stairs,” Peter says shrugging. 

“You fell down the stairs” Tony repeats dryly seeing right through the kids second lie. 

Peter flinches at Tony's comment. 

“Did flash do this?” Tony asks. 

Tony has witnessed this ‘flash’ kid call Peter names first hand. 

“No, all Flash does is call me names” Peter replies.

“It just some new guy at school” he finally tells Tony. 

“What did he do?” he asks Peter gently as he sees Peter start to tear up. 

It takes a while, but he finally tells Tony about the “present” this kid gave to him at lunch and how he punched Peter when he didn't laugh at his “joke” Tony is furious. He gets up to call the school, Peter guessing what Tony is about to do, he pipes up again. 

“No! don't! please, it doesn't matter, I can take it, if he doesn't pick on me he’ll pick on someone else” Peter says desperation in his voice. 

“Just because you CAN take it doesn't mean you SHOULD Peter” Tony explains to Peter who slumps in his chair at Tony’s words. 

“You tell an adult Peter” Tony continues his lecture 

“Teachers are all talk and no action when it comes to bullying” Peter protests. 

Having been bullied himself being the only 16-year-old in college Tony knows just how true Peters words are, being a teenager is hard enough without having to worry about bullies. Tony sighs looking at Peters bruises. 

“I can’t fight back, because I couldn't then, so I shouldn't know, I still look as puny as I did before my powers and if puny parker starts fighting back it might look suspicious, and sometimes I can’t control my strength, especially if I'm angry I could really, really hurt him and that would be horrible Mr Stark” Peter says as he continues to list off reason after reason. 

Tony can tell that Peter is starting to get stressed. Only calling Tony, Mr Stark now if he is really stressed. 

“If he is bullying you, Peter, he is probably bullying everyone, bullies don't pick on one person and one person alone, I think you should still tell a teacher even if you think they won’t do anything” Tony expresses his concern. 

Peter is looking at the floor as Tony speaks 

“and if those teachers won't do something, I will, I’m Tony Stark its very rare I don't get what I want, that kid, along with any other bullies at Midtown will be shipped off to military school before they can say, I'm a douche bag” Tony tells Peter grinning only half-joking. 

“Thank you, Tony,” Peter says giving him a small smile. 

“You think you want to try school again tomorrow,” Tony asks Peter as they eat tea. 

Peter thinks about it for a second and then nods. 

“I need to keep a routine going if I want to start feeling like myself again, besides if I don't turn up to school tomorrow Nick going to this he's won,” Peter says the ghost of a smile on his face. 

“There you go kid” Tony encourages Peter gently shoving him. 

Tony and Peter are sitting on the couch together watching a movie when Tony hears quite sniffs come from Peter. 

“I miss her so much,” Peter says. 

“She…she’s actually gone, I’m never going to see her again. Every time I wake I hope it’s just some messed up dream, but this is real life” Peter says. 

Tony hates seeing Peter like this if he could invent some way to make all his pain away he would. 

Hell, Tony would even transfer the pain onto himself if he could, but all he can do is be there for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door – Milton Berle


	26. Chapter 26

A few weeks later a Peter is doing better, he is eating regular meals again, he is still having trouble sleeping but it’s one step at a time. He is slowly making is way through the stages of grief and Tony is going to be there every step of the way. A few days later, Tony is awoken by Friday who tells him Peter is awake and in the Gym. Tony gets up and makes his way to the gym to see what the kid is doing, it’s 3 am on a Saturday he should be in bed, asleep. Peter is pummeling the punching bag angrily, sweat is pouring down his face but he doesn't look like he is going to let up any time soon. 

“Hey” Tony calls out walking into the gym.

"It’s not fair,” Peter says angrily. 

“It’s my fault they’re are all dead,” Peter says punching the bag hard. 

“It sucks, my whole family is dead. I am the last Parker on earth” he continues talking punching harder with every word. 

"Do you know how much that sucks?” Peter says turning to Tony throwing the gloves down before he crumbles to the floor. 

“Peter,” Tony says walking over to the boy patting his back as he sobs in Tony's arms. 

"People die when they know me, you should abandon me before you get hurt,” He says crying into Tonys’ shoulder. 

“Peter Benjamin Parker, I don’t ever want to hear you say shit like that again” Tony scolds. 

“Why?” he asks pushing away from Tony. 

“Because it's not true, how many times do I have to remind you that lying isn't your thing” Tony responds. 

“Why?” Peter ask again suddenly. 

“I would do anything to bring them back Tony, it just not fair,” Peter says. 

“I know kid, I know” Tony sympathizes. 

“I don't think either of us will ever come up with an answer to that question kiddo,” Tony tells him smiling sadly. 

After their talk in the gym that morning Peter spends most of his time in his room, only coming out for dinner which they ate together Saturday night. Everyone finished eating, put their dishes in the dishwasher and sat on the couch for movie night. Everyone but Peter who went to go back to his room. 

“Not going to join us for a movie?” Tony asks him.

“Nah, I still have homework and stuff” Peter mumbles. 

"Aww come on Peter, don't be a spoilsport,” Rhodes says throwing a pillow at Peter, which hits him. 

Peter scowls as he throws it back on the couch 

“We are going to watch 21 jump street, is it not a movie you find enjoyable?” Vision asks. 

“Yeah, Vis makes a good point, I’ll be letting you watch an R rated movie,” Tony tells Peter, hoping to pursue him. 

Unfortunately, they pushed a little too far as Peter crosses his arms 

“I said No! why is that no a good enough answer for you guys, I don't want to watch the movie, just leave me alone” Peter says loudly turning on his heels leaving the room.

Everyone in the room sat wide-eyed, shocked at the kid's outburst having never seen Peter in a bad mood before let alone angry. Rodney was the first to speak, snapping out of his shocked state as he heard Peters door slam shut 

“What the hell was that” he spoke.

“The second stage of grief is anger” Tony explains. 

He frowns looking down the corridor Peter just stormed down, sighing and massaging his head, Rhodes gives his back a firm pat before sitting back down 

“You’re doing good Tony,” he says giving him a confident smile. 

A few hours later Peter comes back into the lounge room tears threatening to leak out his watery eyes. 

“I’m sorry for what I said before,” He says wiping his eyes. 

“I’m just so angry,” he says. 

"That's okay Peter, we understand” Bruce responds. 

“But it’s not though, I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you, it’s not fair,” He says. 

“Peter, don’t stress over it,” Rhodes says slowly walking over to Peter and messing up his hair. 

“Hey” Peter groans laughing and smiling. 

It’s a genuine Peter Parker smile. 

Tony forgot just how much misses those. 

Flash got suspended for two weeks for punching Nick in the face, so Peter hadn't had the chance to talk to him. It turns out that Flash also wanted to talk to him too. After he comes back to school Flash comes up to Peter after the decathlon meeting. 

“Hey, Peter can I uh talk to you quickly,” Flash asks. 

“Ummm sure, I wanted to talk to you too” Peter replies hesitantly, looking around seeing that the rest of the team have already left. 

“I’m sorry for all the shitty things I said to you,” Flash says as he kicks at the floor.

“It’s okay Flash, thanks umm thanks for sticking up for me a few weeks ago” Peter thanks Flash smiling.

“You didn't have to do that especially since you got suspended over it,” Peter says feeling a little guilty. 

“Yeah, that’s no problem, I guess I wanted to make it up to you? I don't know man, I just” Flash starts to say. 

“Flash I forgive you,” he says smiling. 

“Thanks,” Flash says as Peter turns to walk away. 

“Oh, umm Peter?” Flash says grabbing Peters school bag stopping him from walking away. 

Not expecting Flash to grab his bag, Peter falls over backwards at the sudden restriction, his bag ripping in half as he falls. 

“Ah crap, sorry Peter” Flash says as he scrambles helping Peter pick up all the textbooks and notes that now litter the ground. 

“I swear I didn’t mean to do that” Flash says freezing. 

Flash has stopped his mouth dropping open when his eyes fall on Peters Spider-Man suit. Shitshitshitshit Peter freezes as he turns to meet Flashes eyes. 

“I... I....I’m not. I’m Ummm” Peter stutters as he starts to panic. 

“You....you’re,” Flash says in shock. 

“I’m not, it’s a ummm cosplay?” he says, cursing himself when it comes out sounding more like a question than a confirmation. 

“You are, you’re Spider-Man,” Flash says walking up to Peter. 

“I bullied Spider-Man” Flash says his eyes widening. 

“Flash……please” Peter turns to Flash as he starts to panic. 

“Please, you can’t tell anyone” Peter pleads. 

“Peter chill out, I’m not going to tell anyone,” Flash says rolling his eyes. 

“Thank you,” he says rushing forward to hug Flash before he can even think about it. 

“It’s fine Parker,” Flash says gently pushing Peter off. 

“I uhh sorry,” Peter says turning red as he realises what he just did. 

“I promise that your secret is safe with me, but uh…. who else knows, I mean I'm not the first to find out…….right? I mean surely Ned knows right?” Flash asks. 

“Yeah, Ned knows, MJ does too” Peter answers

Flash hesitates, looking like he wants to say something. 

“Not even your Aunt?” he asks softly. 

Peter blinks at Flash a few times, registering what he just asked. 

“No uh, Aunt May never found out” Peter answers looking down at the floor, swallowing the lump in his throat. 

“Oh and Mr Stark and the Avengers know obviously” Peter finishes. 

He looks down again swallowing the sadness and guilt of having Aunt May knowledge or rather a lack of knowledge about his crime-fighting bought up. He is snapped out of his thought with a shout from Flash.

“No way! the internship IS REAL” Flash says. 

“Sorry is kinda shitty of me but I sort of didn’t want to believe you, because I was half jealous” Flash admits to giving Peter a small smile as turns to leave. 

"It’s okay Flash, I don’t believe it myself half the time," Peter says smiling as he bends downs and continues picking his things off the floor. 

“Ummm Peter?” Flash says quietly. 

Peter looks up seeing him standing just by the door. 

“Thank you,” he says turning red. 

"for you know, um a few months ago,” Flash says looking down embarrassed.

It takes Peter a while to register what Flash is referring to but then he clicks. 

“That’s okay Flash I’m really glad I could help” he answers smiling weakly. 

Flash is looking down at the floor, his face red. 

“I didn’t tell anyone,” Peter tells Flash whose head snaps up 

“Just Ummm promise me that you will?” Peter asks Flash hesitantly. 

He feels uncomfortable because he doesn't want to overstep, but he is worried about how Flashes father treats him, and his family. 

“I uh actually did, I called the police after you left,” Flash tells Peter tearing up. 

“That was brave of you man, you did the right thing,” he tells Flash, as he picks up the last of his notes. 

“Mums uh filed a restraining order against him so I at least I know that my mum, little sister and I are safe now,” Flash says sniffing. 

“I’m glad you and your family are safe” Peter responds, smiling at Flash as they walk out of school together. 

“See you tomorrow Parker,” Flash says

“Bye Flash” Peter replies as they go their separate ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Breathe everything is going to be okay, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but you will be okay.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little shorter guys I'm sorry, but I hope you enjoy all the same!

Peters anger stage doesn't last long at all, Peter has never really been an angry kid. A couple of months later he is getting better, he has become more functional in day to day life. 

He's sleeping, eating for his metabolism (the kid really is a bottomless pit when it comes to food). He talks about May sometimes, telling Tony things they used to do together, he cries when he talks about those things but other than that the kid has stopped crying, starting to smile again, genuine Peter smiles.

He actually laughed yesterday they were watching a cooking network together, Peter lied down on the couch halfway through the second segment choosing to put his feet in Tony's lap 

“Eww get your stinky feet off me,” Tony says pushing Peters legs off him. 

Peter immediately puts them back on Tony lap, laughing when Tony grabbed them using them as momentum to push the kid onto the floor.   
  
Everything is starting to be okay again until Tony picks Peter up on his last day of school before his two-week break. They are driving in the car, dancing stupidly along to the music on the radio, when Peter screams out of nowhere for Tony to stop the car. 

Tony hits the breaks because the kid sounded freaked out. Just then a car going the wrong way, and way over the speed limit flies past. Exactly where their car would have been if Peter hadn’t screamed at him to stop the car. 

“You really have those spider senses going for you don’t you kid?” Tony says a little out of breath looking over to see Peter holding back tears.

“Hey, it’s okay, it know that was scary it scared the shit outta me too, but you’re fine, I stopped the car when you told me to kiddo, good job,” Tony tells Peter soothingly 

Peter starts to shake tears starting to fall from his eyes before he mumbles something squeezing his eyes shut.

“Sorry, Pete I didn’t hear that buddy” Tony soothes Peter rubbing his back.   
  
“I could have done the same thing,” Peter said quietly. 

“I’m not following Peter,” Tony says concerned.

“I could have stopped Aunt Mays accident” he whimpers. 

Shit, Peter was taking small shaky breaths, now that he was talking he couldn’t stop. 

“She asked if I wanted to come and I said no. I wasn’t in the car to sense something was wrong." 

"What if I could have stopped her accident like I just stopped this one. I should have gone with her Tony" 

"It’s my fault, it’s all my fault if I wasn’t so"

"I...I said I had homework, then I fell asleep. I could have stopped it, Tony, She, she’s dead because I was selfish” Peter was now hyperventilating. 

“I can’t breathe,” he says panic in his eyes. 

“Hey, hey,” Tony says soothingly pulling Peter into a hug.

“You're having a panic attack kiddo. Just close your eyes and match your breathing with mine remember how we did it last time. In. Out. In. Out.” Tony says counting as they breath slowly together.

“You okay?” Tony asks Peter as his breathing returns to normal. 

“Yeah, I uh,” Peter says closing his eyes.

“Sorry” Peter finishes

“Apologize for something silly one more time and you're grounded” Tony answers. 

“You so can’t do that” Peter replies a small laugh escaping his lips.

“watch me” Tony replies a teasing smirk on his lips. 

Peter leans back onto the seat, breathing out a shaky breath. 

“You sure you’re okay Peter?” Tony asks worriedly. 

Peter was doing so well, he was starting to feel happy again, he doesn't want him to lose all the progress he has made these past few months to be all for nothing because some asshole thinks the road rules don't apply to him. 

It seems like Peter feels the same way as he looks at Tony speaking again 

“Yeah, I just need a distraction, that was scary,” He says looking so sure of himself.   
  
“I have the perfect distraction,” Tony says as he turns the wrong way driving away from the Avengers tower.

“Where are we going?” Peter says noticing immediately that they are driving the wrong way. 

“You’ll see” Tony smirks, driving in silence. 

Peters' eyes go wide as they pull up at the airport 

“Are we going on a mission?" he asks jumping up in his seat, spotting the others standing outside the quint jet. 

“The opposite actually,” Tony says parking the car, moving to the back of the car and getting out suitcases. 

“We are going on a little holiday,” Tony tells Peter. 

Another genuine Peter smile flashes across his face 

“No way! this is awesome! where are we going?” Peter asks excitedly 

“Why would I ruin the surprise?” Tony answers mysteriously. 

He smiles as he grabs the suitcases, following the others into the jet, sitting next to Pepper who was sitting in the jet, waiting for them to arrive.   
  
Peter comes in and sits down in the other free seat next to Pepper bouncing with excitement, as he began talking so fast it takes Tony a few seconds to figure out that he was guessing where they are going. 

The others smiled along with Tony laughing at seeing Peter being so Peter, this is the first time in a while they have seen him express joy and excitement.

It makes Tony feel all warm inside, he wipes a happy tear away seeing Peter improve day by day. Rhodes may or may not have seen him wipe away the tear, but he doesn't anything, so he can't be too sure. 

Peter keeps talking until he runs out of guesses. 

“Know how to play poker Pete?” Rhodes asks as Peter sits down. 

“Umm, the only card games I know is, go fish and snap,” Peter says.

The team plays a few rounds of those games until Peter asks if Rhodes can teach him how to play poker. Peter picks up the rules fast is pretty good at it. 

“Don’t go gambling away your pocket money kid” Rhodes mumbles as he loses to Peter AGAIN. 

“Jokes on you, I don't even get pocket money” Peter responds.

“Ooohhh ouch that clap back hurt,” Rhodes says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. 

The plane lands at their destination, Peter runs to the window trying to figure out where they are. 

“You have a private island in Fiji!?" Peter says his mouth hanging open then Tony tells him where they are.

“Yeah, kiddo did you expect anything less from Tony Stark?” Tony replies in mock horror ruffling Peters' hair. 

Peter mumbles something unintelligible as he tries to fix his hair. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You Matter   
> You are important   
> You mean so much more to people then you will ever know


	28. Chapter 28

Peter doesn't know why he’s so shocked that Tony has a private island in Fiji. 

“Did you expect anything less from Tony Stark?” Tony replies messing up his hair.

“You know I hate it when you do that” Peter mumbles under his breath as he tries to tidy up his hair.

Peter thinks he’s dreaming, as Tony shows him around the island. The house is amazing, from the outside it looks like a massive treehouse, it's huge and made out of wood. 

The inside, however, is a mixture of rustic and modern, there’s hanging beds, massive lounges and big windows everywhere, a view of his surrounding is breathtaking no matter where you look, a giant pool. 

Peter slightly confused about the pool because, why swim in a pool when the house is literally surrounded by the bluest and clearest ocean he has ever seen in his life.   
  
Peter explores the house a little longer finding so many awesome things, it has his head spinning. 

They eat lunch on the beach, before Pepper tells him that she wants to show him something, Peter follows her deeper into the forest, before he sees a massive waterfall which is flowing into a hot spring.

“NO WAY!” Peter yells. 

“This is crazy cool, I thought these were only a thing in movies they exist in real life!” he says turning to her.

“This is one of my favourite places to come and read, the sound of the waterfall is very soothing,” she says wrapping an arm around Peters' shoulder. 

Peter leans his head against her shoulder 

“it’s amazing” he replies smiling. 

They fall into silence, just watching the waterfall. Half an hour later the others have joined them, Natasha and Pepper are sitting on a rock reading. Vision and Rhodes are talking about some boring political stuff. 

Bruce and Tony making small talk as Tony answers emails on his phone and Bruce continues his current research. 

Peter, however, occupies his time climbing up the mountain and doing as many tricks he can think of into the hot spring below.

“Whoops, sorry! My bad” Peter says as some water splashes Pepper. 

“Oh she's completely fine, in fact, I don't think you got her enough” Tony replies, picking her up and throwing her into the hot spring.

“Tony!” she gasps, as she surfaces laugher bubbles from her mouth. 

“Could we have a games night?” Peter asks as they climb out the hot spring to dry off before making their way back to the house. 

“I don’t see why not” Tony answers. 

It turns out the Avengers take board games seriously, like really seriously. Pepper sits back sipping her wine staying out of the way. 

Rhodes is threatening to leave the Avengers, saying he doesn't want to work with a traitor when Tony sends him back to the beginning of the board when he was 6 moves away from winning. 

They pack up the games after that because joking or not thinking are getting too heated for Peppers liking and someone was going to get hurt.  
  
The team heads home Friday afternoon, having spent a week away everyone was refreshed and closer than ever. 

Although relaxing, the holiday was also pretty full-on, so everyone slept most of Friday. Peter was up surprisingly early for a Saturday 

“Good morning,” Peter says coming into the kitchen table, already dressed he grabs an apple and goes to walk out the door. 

“Where are you headed today?” Tony asks Peter who freezes and slowly turns around shrugging. 

“Ummm, nowhere in particular” Peter responds. 

However he's not looking Tony in the eye (how many times does he have to tell this kid, he is really bad at lying?) 

"Nowhere?”, Tony repeats, looking at him questioningly. 

The others filter into the room making Peter even more on the edge, which only raises Tony suspicions. 

“I’ll tell you later,” He says to look around at the others. 

“You’ll all tease me” Peter sighs, kicking at the ground. 

“No, we won’t kid” Tony promises him to look at the others. 

“I’m just going shopping for some things,” Peter says. 

“Okay well have fun, are you going with anyone?” Tony asks

“Not just me, I won’t be long” Peter answers as he hurries out the door, coming back an hour later. 

The kid wasn't kidding when he said he wouldn't be too long, the bus ride to the nearest shops takes 10 minutes and the walk takes another 10 meaning he was at the shops for 20 minutes tops. 

“That was quick, what did you get?” Tony asks 

“Just some stuff,” Peter says making a beeline to his room. 

Normally, Tony would have let this slide, but Peter was in his care now and the kid was acting strangely, it was his duty as guardian to act accordingly. 

“Stuff? everything okay?” he asks Peter, he has never heard Peter be so vague about anything.

Tony takes a deep breath, he hates pressing the kid, but knowing Peter, it might be something serious and Peter being Peter doesn't want to inconvenience anyone by telling them something is wrong. 

“Come on Peter, spit it out or I’ll assume your secretly dating someone and you're buying condoms” Tony teases, knowing that will get the information out the kid. 

“TONY Ewwww no! no, I” Peter says getting flustered before he sighs and pulls something out his bag handing it to Tony.   
  
His heart sinks a little, was this really what the kid was trying so desperately to hide from him? 

“Do you know how to shave Peter?” Tony asks, handing him back the shaver making a mental note to get Peter a proper shaving kit, because all the kid bought was a cheap crappy razor. 

Tony had seen the hair Peter had been growing around his chin and upper lip but chose not to bring it up, thinking that the younger Boy might be proud of his facial hair. 

“I was going to research it, maybe watch a YouTube video” Peter replies.   
  
“Follow me kid” he replies, walking into the elevator asking Friday to take them to his suite. 

Peter follows Tony into his bathroom. Tony gets out shaving gel and aftershave. 

“Okay, the first thing you want to do is it too wet your face with warm water for about 2 minutes to open up your pores and soften the hair," Tony says leaning over his sink washing his face. 

Peter copies Tony using Peppers sink. 

“You’ll want to wash your face after, to get rid of any dirt or anything to make sure you get a clean shave,” he says grabbing some soap and washing his face. 

“Now put the shaving cream where your hair grows,” Tony says. 

He squirts some gel into Peters' hand and then into his rubbing it onto his face in gentle circular motions. 

“You're going to want to let that sit for little, to really soften those hairs, reducing the risk of frictions because trust me when I say that razor burn is not fun,” Tony says, thinking back to having to teach himself how to shave because his dad was too busy for him. 

Tony thought it was soap people were using, that was his first of many mistakes, he got a pretty serve razor burn all over his neck that took a week to go down. Tony shudders at the memory before he puts his focus back on Peter who is listening intently. They wait two minutes before Tony picks up his razor. 

“You always want to shave with the grain,” he tells Peter, slowly moving his razor down his face. 

“You want to use long slow strokes on your face, and soft short strokes on your chin when you shave your lip pull it tight over your lips like this” Tony explains. 

Peter watching as he demonstrates nodding at Peter to pick up his shaver. 

“Rinse off your razor every two to three strokes” Tony explains running his razor under the running water. 

Tony slowly shaves his face, as Peter follows his movements, probably a little slower than necessary but Tony nods in encouragement as Peters' eyes keep flicking to Tony, checking if he is doing it right. Peter increases the speed on the other side of his face, flinching a little as he nicks himself shaving. 

“You’ve almost had the full shaving experience” Tony smiles

He hands Peter a warm towel to stop the bleeding, he removes it about 10 seconds later, the nick already starting to heal. 

“Don’t worry if you miss any spots that's completely normal when you shave, just redo those parts and once you’ve finished just wash your face with cold water” Tony explains putting his shaver down. 

He waits for him to finish shaving because he loves Peter but not enough to shave off his signature goatee. 

Peter finishes checking to see if he has missed any spots, quickly adding a little more shaving cream when he realized he has missed a few spots once he is happy he splashes his face with cold water. 

“This step isn't necessary so it’s up to you,” Tony tells Peter as Tony splashes a little aftershave on his hand rubbing it into his skin. 

“I don't have to use that?” Peter asks 

“You don't have to, but it does help with skin irritation and acne” Tony informs Peter as he takes the bottle from Tony’s hands. 

“Do you like using it?” Peter asks Tony 

“I use it all the because I like the smell and it feels nice on my skin” Tony responds. 

The pure knowledge of knowing Tony likes to use aftershave is enough to convince Peter to put some on. 

“I just wanted to be like you” Peters voice echoes around Tony head. 

A small smile on hi fave as he watches Peter wrinkle his nose at the strong smell before he rubs it onto his face. Making a serious mental note to be a positive influence on Peter while he was still at an impressionable. 

“I thought that home alone scene was just funny, but it really does sting,” Peter says looking up at Tony. 

“You get used to it,” Tony says chuckling as they start cleaning up the sinks. 

“Did you find out what was bothering Peter?” Rhodes asks as Tony sits down, across from him at the kitchen counter as Peter goes to his room. 

“Yeah the kid was hiding a shaver,” Tony tells Rhodes who grins at his friend, digging his elbow into his ribs. 

“Your first father-son teaching moment,” Rhodes says. 

Tony’s not sure if Rhodes is teasing him or not either way. 

Tony couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart. ― Roy T. Bennett,


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are having the most amazing day/afternoon/night

Peter wakes up to a text in the group chat, Sunday afternoon

MJ: You guys want to hang out at the mall tomorrow? 

Ned: That sounds like a great idea! 11? so we can sleep in and eat lunch together?

Peter: That sounds awesome, I’m in! I might be there a little later, you know how relatable public transport is. 

Ned: True dude 

MJ: Yeah whatever. It will just be cool to hang out 

MJ: We can talk about our first week of holidays, especially you Mr private island in Fiji. 

Ned: Agreed 

Peter: Hey! your parents took you and your little sister to Times Square that’s pretty cool too dude. 

MJ: I went all sorts of places, if you include me reading about them in my room at home, all the while you losers were having an amazing time…...

MJ: kidding guys I don't care ;)

Peter: you’re sooo funny 

Ned: real nice MJ

“Hey, Tony” Peter yells out

“Hey, Peter” Tony yells back. 

“Can I hang out with Ned and MJ at the mall tomorrow?” Peter asks walking into the kitchen. 

“Sure kid, you want happy to drop you off or?” Tony asks 

“ah, it’s okay. I’ll just catch the tram” Peter replies.

Peter goes out on patrol that night and he almost regrets going away for a week because crime has skyrocketed. 

Peter decides to call it when he sees the sun rising, He is exhausted and only petty crimes are committed in broad daylight, so Peter goes home and flops onto the couch as his legs give from under him. 

Natasha and Tony are sitting at the kitchen bench eating breakfast and starting their day

“Are you just getting home?” Tony asks in a scolding tone. 

Peter groans as he sits up. 

“Yeah, I guess it didn't take the criminals too long to figure out that the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman wasn't in town and made the most of it” Peter replies. 

“Peter” Tony starts, looking concerned 

“Just this once, I promise now people know I’m back it will die down again” Peter promises Tony, who sighs. 

“Whatever, it too early for this shit, go to bed and if you do that again your grounded” Tony finally tells Peter 

If Peter wasn't completely dead on his feet he might have argued, but he feels like a zombie right now. 

Peter has a quick shower and he's pretty sure he fell asleep in there. He puts on some warm Pjs and falls into bed, asleep before his head hits the pillow. 

When Peter wakes up he checks and the time, it's 2:30 pm and he has several texts and a few miss calls. All from Ned and MJ asking when he was coming, then asking if he was still coming. 

Peter snaps out of his half-asleep state immediately. 

“OH MY GOD NO” he yells gripping his hair. 

Peter quickly types out a message in the group chat asking if they are still hanging out at the mall, he doubts they are, but he just has to check just in case. 

They don’t see the message so Peter calls Ned first 

“Peter! you’re okay!” Ned yells 

“You’re okay right?” He asks worriedly. 

“yeah Ned, I’m fine I’m just the worst friend ever. The crime rate was insane yesterday dude, I went on patrol for like 9 hours, then I came home and totally passed out. I woke up like 5 minutes ago, I am so sorry, I know it sounds like I’m making up excuses but” Peter says in a rush telling Ned what happened, apologizing profusely. 

“It’s fine Peter, I understand you have a responsibility dude,” Ned says

“I’m still sorry,” he tells his best friend. 

“Yeah, I know. I mean it does kind of suck that we don't hang out as much as we used to, but my best friend is Spider-Man, do you know how cool that is?” Ned replies. 

“Thank you, Ned, you're so amazing, how did I get so lucky, you’re my best friend dude, you’re awesome,” Peter tells Ned 

“I should uh probably call MJ, was she mad?” Peter asks

“Ummm I don’t think so dude, I think she used to get mad when she didn't know the reason you didn't show up for the meetings and stuff, you should probably still call though, Bye Peter,” Ned says.

Peter sighs as Ned hangs up because he knows Ned, as well as Ned, knows him, and Ned sounded really upset. Peter calls MJ, he’s about to hang up when she picks up 

“Hey Parker” she answers she doesn't sound angry but she doesn't sound happy either. 

“I’m so sorry MJ, I had a super late night I didn’t get home from patrol until 6 by the time I went to bed it was 7” Peter explains. 

As he continues to talk when there is just silence on the other end of the line. 

“I really am sorry, I am the world’s worst friend, but I swear I will make it up to you, I’ll figure out something awesome we can do together and I’ll organize it all to totally make up for being the worst friend ever and let you guys know in the group chat ASAP” Peter promises her taking a deep breath. 

“Peter take a breath will you, I understand, really I do, doing something would be awesome. I get you’re busy but it would be nice to see you more often” MJ replies on the other end of the line sounding slightly happier. 

“Okay, I will get on that right away,” Peter says, opening up his laptop to start researching something to do 

“You aren't the worst friend ever by the way,” MJ tells Peter before she hangs up.

It doesn't take him very long to see that a carnival is coming into town today and is opening tomorrow.

Peter excitedly runs out of the room to go find Tony, finding him in the workshop. 

“Good afternoon sleeping beauty” Tony greets him 

“Hey, Tony” Peter replies, sitting down starting to fiddle with his project. 

“Tony?” Peter says, getting his mentors attention.

“Yeah, Peter?” Tony replies. 

“Do you think it would be okay if I could go to a carnival, with Ned and MJ tomorrow?” he asks hopefully.

“That sounds like fun, sure you can” Tony answers smiling.

“and uhm, would it be okay for Ned and MJ to come over for a sleepover after?” he asks 

“Sure” Tony replies shrugging 

“Why not” he adds 

“Sweet! I’ll go let them know” Peter says happily 

“Thanks, Tony” Peter yells over his shoulder as he goes to go text his friends.

The next morning Peter is sitting excitedly on the couch, waiting for his friend’s arrival. The carnival is a little further out from the tower, the plan is for Ned and MJ to be dropped off here, for Happy to then drive them the rest of the way. 

“So, they both know you're Spider-Man?” Tony asks Peter who nods.

“Yeah, MJ worked it out, she's so smart,” he says, a goofy grin on his face. 

“Oh yeah?” Tony asks digging his elbow into Peters' ribs winking at him.

“What!? No! stop! It’s totally not like that” Peter says his cheeks slowly turning red. 

“Sure kid” he smirks at the teen who is growing redder by the second. 

“Seriously, I like her, she's awesome, but I don’t, LIKE, like her,” Peter says, playing with his hoodie zipper. 

“I think the fact that you just used the term like, like proves that you do” Tony teases ruffling the kid’s hair.

“Daaad!” Peter groans and pushes Tony away. 

He freezes at the same time Tony does as they both realize what Peter just said. Peter just called him Dad. Tony can’t help the warm feeling that he feels creeping up inside him. 

Peter, however, gets up and runs from the room his cheeks bright red. Tony is about to go follow him, wanting to talk about what just happened, but Friday informs them that Ned and MJ have arrived. 

Peter walks back into the room, quickly walking past Tony avoiding eye contact as he goes downstairs to greet his friends. 

“Bye, I’ll see you when I get back,” Peter says, so quietly, Tony barely hear him. 

Tony sighs as the kid leaves, Tony is lost in thought until Pepper comes home from work. 

“Hey, stranger,” she says, pulling Tony into a gentle hug.

“Hi Pep” he greets, her kissing her softly. 

“You seemed a little distracted when I came in,” she asked rubbing his back, pulling away smiling softly at him.

Tony thought about it for a second debating whether he should tell her or not. He doesn't want to embarrass Peter, but on the other hand, he tells Pepper everything. 

Tony takes a deep breath before telling her. 

“Peter called me Dad,” he says. 

“He did? What did you say?” She asks a smile on her face

“I didn't get a chance to the kid ran off before I could say a word, left with his friends soon as they got here. He didn't even look at me when he left” he tells her, not bothering to hide the disappointment in his voice. 

“It was just an accident; Stark men weren't built to be fathers” Tony continues. 

He is starting to feel a little stupid about how happy Peter calling him Dad made him. Tony will never be fit to be a father, his own father proved it, it’s just not in Stark men’s nature to be nurturing. 

“Tony stop, you are not your father,” Pepper says, knowing exactly where Tony’s mind is. 

Tony sighs, putting his head in his hands. 

“I know, I know, anyway we have the house to ourselves for a few hours. What do you say we make the most of it” Tony says. 

He picks her up bridal style carrying her into the elevator heading towards their suite to get ready for a lovely dinner, just the two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is only one you in the whole entire universe and you are doing so great and I am so proud of you. 
> 
> “Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.” ― Roy T. Bennett


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys the uploading might be a little choppy and slow. My laptop is getting fixed, the keyboard thought it would be a good idea to break (5 days until I get it back!) and I uploaded this chapter on my phone which is not cooperating 😂😅 
> 
> Have a wonderful day/evening/night as always!

Tony takes Pepper out for dinner, they sit and chat about everything as they enjoy their five-course meal.

Tony booked the entire balcony, so he and Pepper have a little privacy and time to themselves.

They are chatting about nothing in particular, whilst they eat under the stars.

Tony keeps stealing glances at Pepper as he thinks about how he the luckiest man in the world to have a woman who just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. 

During the car ride home, he hears what Peter said circling in his head, by the time they arrive home, he’s not even sure that Peter even said it anymore or if it was just a figment of his imagination.

Pepper puts on La La Land and pulls Tony to his feet to dance with her as Sebastian twirls Mia around under the stars. 

They are giggling like a young drunk love couple who are in the early love-sick stages of dating.

Tony smiles wide, pulling her closer as they dance around the room the movie completely forgotten about.

After an hour or so they sit down on the couch. Pepper drinks a cup of tea, Tony grabs a coffee before they head down to the cinema to watch a movie together. 

Tony sighs as Pepper picks fifty shades of grey, honestly a little surprisedTony takes Pepper out for dinner, they sit and chat about everything as they enjoy their five-course meal.

Tony booked the entire balcony, so he and Pepper have a little privacy and time to themselves.

They are chatting about nothing in particular, whilst they eat under the stars. 

Tony keeps stealing glances at Pepper as he thinks about how he the luckiest man in the world to have a woman who just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. 

During the car ride home, he hears what Peter said circling in his head, by the time they arrive home, he’s not even sure that Peter even said it anymore or if it was just a figment of his imagination.

Pepper puts on La La Land and pulls Tony to his feet to dance with her as Sebastian twirls Mia around under the stars. 

They are giggling like a young drunk love couple who are in the early love-sick stages of dating. Tony smiles wide, pulling her closer as they dance around the room the movie completely forgotten about. 

After an hour or so they sit down on the couch. Pepper drinks a cup of tea, Tony grabs a coffee before they head down to the cinema to watch a movie together. 

Tony sighs as Pepper picks fifty shades of grey, honestly a little surprised she picked that film, but they settle in to watch it.

An hour later at 11:00 pm Friday informs them that the kids have arrived back at the tower. Tony pauses the movie and sure enough they come in a few minutes later. 

“Hi um we’re back” Peter says, smiling.

Ned freezes and just stares at Tony, MJ however walks directly up to him. 

“I think it’s awesome that you have chosen to go on a green path, choosing to use your money to help people, you could have done that from the beginning but better later then never I guess, my name is Michelle by the way” she speaks confidently.

Tony is a little surprised but he likes her, she has guts and isn't afraid to speak her mind.

“Thank you, I actually agree with you,” Tony says holding his hand out, shaking her hand.

“Ummm if you guys aren't going to be watching another movie, would we be able to watch a movie in here after?” Peter asks. 

“Sure kid, this movie only has like 5 minutes left” Tony replies. 

“oh okay cool, should we just like wait in here then, so you don't have to come and get us or?” Peter asks shyly. 

“Sorry Peter, this movie is R18 and I don't think your friends’ parents would be very happy with us letting you watch this movie,” Pepper says.

“I, uh okay sorry,” Peter says turning to leave.

“Nah let the kid watch, it’s almost finished,” Tony’s says.

If Peter is starting to see him as a father figure, that gives him a right to embarrass him, right?

Tony succeeds as Peter and his friend hightail out of the room embarrassed when they figure out what movie it is. 

Pepper lightly slaps his arm, shaking her head at him before she settles back into Tony’s arms to watch the last few minutes of the movie. 

Pepper heads to bed after the movie as Tony tells Friday to let Peter know that the cinema is all his and that there is food in the cupboard if they want snacks. 

Tony heads down to the workshop, he is down there for a half hour when he hears Peter and his friends scream. 

“Friday what the hell is going on!?” Tony’s ask the AI about to run up to the Avenger’s platform. 

“They are watching a horror movie boss” Friday responds. 

Tony’s heart which was beating a million miles an hour settles as he goes back to focusing on the current blueprints he’s working on. 

Tony decides to head to bed when it reaches 3 am he can hear Peter, Ned and MJ are still up because when he goes to check on them, he hears muffled laughter coming from behind the closed door. Tony smiles as he heads back to his suite, climbing into bed.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Peter freezes as he realises what he just said. Peter has looked up to Tony Stark for years, he has never told anyone this not even Ned, but he kind of started seeing him as a father figure after Tony made him this awesome suit and started mentoring him. 

It just slipped out, he felt Tony freeze when he heard it too. Peter just wanted to sink into the couch and disappear, so he did the next best thing. 

He left the room as quickly as possible, breathing a sigh of relief when Friday said Ned and MJ where here. 

He could avoid the insane amount of awkwardness he had definitely just caused. Peter quickly head downstairs saying a quick goodbye to Tony before he met his friends downstairs. 

Happy drove them to the carnival as they talked about all the rides they were planning to ride. They get out the car, once Happy pulls tto a stop, grinning at each other.

The carnival looks like a lot of fun, there are rides everywhere and food galore. Tony gave Peter money to spend while he was here, but he wanted to make sure to give him some back. He hates taking things from people, but Tony was very persistent and convincing when it came to Peter taking the money.

They go on all the rides first, they go on the biggest and scariest ones first, one had a massive drop that Ned hated but Peter absolutely loved, the sensation was similar to swinging around the city. 

They grabbed some food next, just sitting and chatting as they ate giant pretzels, churros, corn dogs and ice-cream. Choosing to play a couple games next, Peter may or not have used his strength to win MJ a giant teddy.

Ned looked at him and smirked but said nothing, they played on the bumper cars next which was really fun.

Once they think their food is settled, they ride their favourite rides again before they buy even more food, sitting down on the grass to watch the fireworks. 

They play a few more games, winning a bunch of giant toys which they were all really excited about, people rarely wins those, but with Peters powers it’s pretty easy to win and yeah in hindsight it’s probably cheating and he probably shouldn't have done it, but all of those games are a scam so if you really think about it.

Peter beat some very, very low key criminals at their own game. They talk and laugh about everything in the car on the way home, high on life and sugar. 

When they get back Tony and Pepper where watching a movie together. Peter felt kind of awkward and bad for asking because it’s their house and he doesn't want to sound like he was kicking them out. 

He asked if they could watch a movie anyway because the private cinema is pretty much all Ned has asked about since Peter told him, and well why not watch a movie with him in it. 

Pepper says the movie they are watching now is inappropriate but that they can watch one when it’s over.

He’s a little skeptical when Tony says it’s not that bad. He was right to be suspicious because when Pepper rolls her eyes and presses play all three of them run from the room when they see Tony and Pepper are watching 50 shades of gray.

Once the cinema is free Ned and Peter stupidly agreed to watch a horror movie that MJ picked. Peter thought he would be braver because, come on he's Spider-Man he fights bad guys almost every night but the stuff in horror movies he doesn't have to fight, he’s thankful for that because those things are downright creepy. 

They all scream out loud at a particularly big jump scare, the movie pauses as Friday ask if they are okay. 

They tell her they are fine, as the movie starts again they huddle a little closer together on the couch. It’s about 2 am when they finish watching movies and choose to get ready for bed.

There’s more than enough room for Peter to move a couple spare beds from the guest rooms into his, so they could all have their own bed, instead of sleeping on mattress on the floor. 

They are sitting on Peters bed for the moment just watching YouTube videos and vine compilations laughing as they recreate a few of their favourites. 

It gets to 4 am, they all get into bed as they all start to get tired, they talk for a little while longer and Peter starts to think about what happened earlier, he really doesn’t want to tell them, but they are his friends and Peter tells them everything, especially Ned and they might even have some advice. 

“Hey, guys?” Peter calls into the dark

“yeah?” Ned says as MJ hums in response. 

“I um kind of said something earlier, and I think I made everything awkward between Tony and I” Peter says clearing his throat.

“What happened?” Ned asks.

Peter hears the rustling of sheets as Ned sits up

“I kind of” Peter starts to say before he cuts himself off. 

He covers his face with a pillow with a sigh, thankful that the lights are off because he is probably beet red right now.

“Oh my god” MJ says clicking

“You called Tony Stark Dad” she says to Peter who groans awkwardly into his pillow in response.

“No way dude!” Ned says 

“Shut up Ned” he groans

“I mean it’s not that bad man” Ned chirps,

“It’s really not, I mean it was kind of inevitable” MJ says

“I uh, yeah I guess” Peter responds.

“Seriously don’t sweat it” MJ says

“Yeah dude don't even worry about it” Ned adds.

They talk for a little while longer, about random things until MJ falls asleep, Ned telling Peter goodnight shortly after. 

Peter quietly gets up and heads to one of the spare rooms to sleep, telling Friday to wake him as soon if either Ned or MJ wakes up.

Peter isn't paying attention to where he’s going and walks right into Natasha who looks like she is heading to the gym. 

“Peter? What are you doing wandering the house at 5 in the morning” she asks. 

Peter has learnt quickly not to lie to Natasha because not only is he a really bad liar, which everyone likes to point out, but even if he was the best liar in the world she would still be able to read straight through him.

“oh, um I was just going to sleep in one of the spare rooms” He tells her a half-truth.

“Your friends are sleeping over, right?” She asks a little confused.

“Yeah they fell asleep half an hour ago” Peter tells her. 

He is playing it cool and shrugging it off as he really wanted to avoid the embarrassing truth.

“Why not sleep in your own bed, worried you'll snore?” she asks smirking.

“No, I umm, I get a lot of nightmares, I’d be so embarrassed if I woke them up by having one while they are around I know they would understand but it’s just humiliating” he finally tells her, he’s tired and just want to go to sleep.

She gives him a look before walking past on the way to her gym.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” — Helen Keller.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short update while I’m at work and on break 😂

“Good morning Peter MJ has woken up” Friday speaks, waking Peter up with a start. 

Peter gets up and makes his way to the kitchen getting out a bunch of breakfast items like cereal and toast as he starts to make pancakes. 

He mixes up the batter before he heads back into his room, he opens the door and gives MJ a small wave, she sits up waving back before she follows Peter into the kitchen.

Her hair is all over the place and she's still half asleep, Peter catches himself staring again, quickly looking at floor telling MJ to help herself to breakfast. 

She grabs a couple pancakes and starts to eat them Peter joins her, they talk about the carnival and how enjoyable yesterday was.

“I wish the carnival was in town all the time” Peter says.

“I know right, I haven't been to a carnival since I was little. I thought I was scarred for life because this creepy clown tried to give me a balloon” MJ says.

“You’re afraid of clowns?” he asks her

“Yeah, everyone’s afraid of something,” MJ says defensively. 

“No judgement,” Peter tells her raising his hands in surrender.

“Whatever loser” she says, smiling, gently punching his arm.

Before he knows what, he’s doing he starts to lean in to kiss MJ on the cheek. 

“Morning guys” Ned says, from the hallway making his way to the kitchen.

Peter pulls back so fast that he nearly topples off the kitchen stool, but he recovers leaning his elbow on the counter trying to act casual.

“Hey Ned, there’s a bunch of breakfast stuff over there help yourself,” Peter tells him eating another mouthful of pancake.

After breakfast MJ goes to get changed in one of the guest rooms while Ned and Peter change in his room.

“Was it interrupting something at breakfast?” Ned says, a huge grin on his face sitting down on Peters bed.

“No” he quickly says pulling on a shirt, sitting down next to Ned.

“so, me seeing you leaning over to kiss MJ was just my imagination? boy I have a good imagination it seemed so real,” Ned says, poking Peters' arm.

“Shut up Ned” Peter says, going bright red as he laughs.

“You should ask her out dude” Ned pipes up again. 

“What, no!?” he answers

“Why? you know she likes you too, you don’t see the way she looks at you when you aren't looking, but I do” Ned says smiling again.

“I don't mind being the third wheel, I know you guys aren’t going to be a super gross PDA couple or leave me out” Ned says with a shrug. 

“Thanks…” he replies looking at Ned.

“hey I woke up last night and you were gone, did you go on patrol?” Ned asks his face lighting up with excitement.

“Uh nah my suit is in the draw couldn't grab it without waking you guys, I just slept in one of the guest rooms,” Peter tells Ned truthfully.

Ned raises an eyebrow curiously

“Doing what I do comes with downs Ned, I get horrible nightmares, I didn't want to wake you guys, if I…. you know” Peter explains.

“dude you know you can tell me anything, I get nightmares too about random stuff, but most of the time it’s about you getting hurt, being a superhero best friends has downs too” he tells Peter sadly. 

“You don't have to worry about me, the sad truth is that anyone can die easily dude, just look at my family tree” he says swallowing thickly.

“Yeah, I get that but you’re more at risk, you put your life on the line almost every night” Ned says.

“I also have powers which protect me more than the average human, so it sort of works out even......I guess” Peter tells Ned hesitantly.

“Please don't worry about me, I swear I’m fine, I’m not going anywhere, anytime soon but if it makes you feel any better I can text you when I’m home safe” he tells his friend.

“I’d like that, I think MJ would too, she likes to pretend she doesn't care but between you and me I think she cares a lot” Ned says putting an arm around Peters shoulder.

“Group chat it is” he answers in agreement. 

Peter might feel a little silly texting them that he’s safe every night, but if it makes them happy, it makes him happy. Peter would probably want them to do the same thing, if he were in their position.

“Boo” MJ says coming back into the room.

“Hey” Ned and Peter say.

“Jinx” they say at the same time again laughing.

“Come on losers, we have 3 hours until Happy drops us home” MJ says.

“Let’s go swimming, it’s supposed to be warm weather” Peter suggests as they all grab out bathing suits.

They run to the pool, jumping in it’s cold but refreshing. An hour later it starts to rain, they are still in the pool swimming around.

“Hey kids, it's raining you better come inside, you don't want to get wet” Rhodes jokes sticking his head out the door.

“Comedy gold” Peter replies, rolling his eyes. 

“thank you, thank you” Rhodes replies, bowing before he disappears inside

“Dude! that was war machine” Ned replies, sounding a little star struck. 

“What!? no way where!?” MJ replies, faking excitement.

Ned just splashes her with water huffing. He freezes again, as Natasha comes out in her bathing suit. 

“Sorry Peter, didn't know you guys were out here, I’ll come back later” She replies, about the head back inside. 

“This is your house, I don't mind” Peter insists.

She looks at the others, Ned just stares but quickly shakes his head, after Peter kicks him gently under the water to snap him out of it.

“Please do I’m surrounded by boys,” MJ says in fake disgust.

They swim for another half hour until Vision calls them in for lunch, Ned asks Vision a bunch of questions as they head inside talking excitedly.

It’s sort of weird seeing Ned freak-out about meeting Tony, Rhodes, Natasha, Bruce and Vision, remembering that he was in the same position a few months ago.

They eat lunch then MJ, Ned and Peter just sit in the lounge room quoting vines, much to the others confusion. Happy pulls up and Peter grins at the others as he gets an idea.

Peter let’s the others know of his plan who laugh and nod, they quickly get into the car as Peter yells. 

“Happy, they’re following me Happy, they're following me!” 

He and the another are trying not to laugh. 

“What, who's following you?” Happy asks confused.

“The bugs” MJ, Ned and Peter reply at the same time.

“Bugs? Peter stop messing around” Happy says angrily, muttering something about teenagers when they all start to laugh.

Happy drops both his friends’ home, it doesn’t take long for Peter to fall asleep on the ride home the busy few days catching up with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are perfect just the way you are.  
> If you want to make changes in your life do it for you and not because someone thinks you aren’t good enough.


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m uploading three chapters today because they are rather short ☺️
> 
> Disclaimer: I love Tony Stark and Robert Downey Jr very much. This is in no way trying to make him look like the “bad guy” (no drinking alcohol legally does not make you a bad person) everyone has problems and there own way of dealing with it and that’s okay Tony does indeed have a drinking problem, but just know that no matter the the problems you face and the way you face them a relapse is okay. You are human and we all have bad days just start again from day one and see if you can hear your record of beating not smoking or drinking less or getting better at self care, whatever it may be you can do it and I believe in you.
> 
> This is just a difficult time for Tony and much like when he found out he didn’t have very long to live in Iron Man 2 he took to drinking.

Tony has been working his ass off for months now, rewriting the accords and having the countless meetings and phone calls with the government to make ends meet.

Something that everyone can agree on which will be fair, he breathes a sigh of relief when he gets home from what will hopefully be the last board meeting with the government, as they finally agreed to the new Accords.

Not all agreed, which is fair the Avengers just won’t be able to operate in those areas, but a majority of them have agreed to and signed these accords.

Tony couldn't more thankful, a large amount of stress has been lifted off his shoulders and he can breathe a little easier.

The new accords allows them to operate like the Avengers once did, saving citizens if they are able to because if they can do something then why shouldn't they? A lot more people would die if they weren't able to help.

Casualties are horrific, if there is anything Tony could do to change that he would do everything in his power to, but the harsh reality is sometimes, more often than not that just isn't the case.

However, if he didn't do something, when he could have resulting, more lives being lost then saved, that reality is much harder to live with the alternative.

If they are needed for a larger scale government mission, then they are obligated to attend a meeting, to see if the Avengers can do anything. 

After the meeting the government officials believe the Avengers are needed then they must follow the orders they are given, which is kind of similar to the old accords however they can still operate like they used to. Just when they work with the government they are under their jurisdiction.

Tony hopes the others will agree, they would hardly ever work for the government as 95% of the time they think they can handle everything themselves.

The Avengers are also allowed to have their say, if it is believed something could go wrong or something could be dealt with better.

They now have a right to be listened too and have their say whereas the old accords had the Team completely under government control, working under all their circumstances and conditions.

If they sign the new accords, the rogue Avengers can come out from hiding and will no longer be under house arrest.

They don’t need to be monitored, they can continue living like normal civilians and won’t be watched by governments eyes all hours of the day.

Once Tony gets home though, panic and stress elopes him again as he remembers what the first part of the deal was.

The government would not be involved with the rogue avengers until they signed the accords, meaning it was up to Tony make that phone call and explain everything going on before asking them to sign yet another contract.

He sits down at the kitchen table, running his fingers through his hair. 

“Come on Tony” he says. 

He keeps looking from the phone Steve gave him, along with the letter which came with the phone, back to the new accords. 

He looks back and forth between the objects for another 20 minutes, mentally beating himself up because he fought tooth and nail for months, putting himself on the line he worked hard to make a contract that finally made everyone involved happy. 

Yet making this phone call seems like the hardest thing in the world right now, he’s not going to lie what happened still hurts and with focusing purely on the accords Tony hasn't been doing so well.

Peter is helping put Tony back together piece by piece, whether the kid knows it or not and hell yes Tony wants to make amends with the people he once called friends, hell a family.

He would love nothing more than to rekindle the friendships that he once held onto so dearly, because yes enough time has passed, Tony thinks he can forgive them for everything that’s happened, but it will be hard to forget and move on.

Forgetting is the easy part, forgiving he's not even sure if he has ever done that in his life. 30 years and he’s still angry at his own father, can he pull himself together enough to forget what happened almost two years ago now? 

Tony picks up the phone his finger inches away from the dial button. Sighing as he drops it back onto he counter, another half hour of staring at the phone, the letter and contract he starts to get frustrated with himself.

Tony picks up the phone, the letter and the contract heading to the party floor. He throws down the contract, letter and phone, picking up a bottle of whiskey, pouring himself a glass, slowly sipping at it as he picks up the phone for what feels the millionth time tonight before he throws back the rest of his drink.

Pouring himself another glass but opts to drink it right out the bottle. I’m a coward Tony thinks as he takes another swig. He portrayed you, you’re not the coward, he is a bitter voice in the back of Tony's head says. 

He washes away that thought with another swig of whiskey. Look at you, just like your father, the voice says again as Tony finishes off the last of the bottle.

Tony angrily grabs another bottle off the shelf wincing slightly as the alcohol burns his throat. He stumbles back to his stool going to sit back down but in his drunken state he misses the chair falling to the floor, the bottle of bourbon still in his hand, smashes all over the floor covering Tony’s hand in cuts, which burn as the alcohol still left in the bottle spills out.

“FUCK!” he screams angrily. 

He upset because he's a mess, so is the floor, the situation just get messier as the blood from his cut-up hand goes everywhere.

Tony tries to clean up, which is hard because he can’t see straight and everything won't stop moving.

“Tony?” Tony hears a quiet voice say. 

He waves them away with his good hand as he tries to stand to get more paper towel. 

Small hands grab Tony’s injured one, he thought those hands belonged to Pepper and Tony instantly feels sorry for her, she shouldn't have to deal with a stupid drunk. 

Tony hasn't gone completely sober, but he hasn't gotten this messed up since the birthday party he threw a few years ago, but the stress of the accords and his own anxiety about calling an old friend just got to him. 

Someone gently guides him somewhere until he is sitting down on a couch. The hands gently begin to pull the glass out of Tony’s hand.

“Tony? are you okay” Peter asks. 

"Peter?" Tony opens his eyes to see that those small hands did, in fact, belong to Peter.

This just makes him sadder, as soon as the kid calls him Dad he starts acting like the one person he never wanted to be, and it kills him, seeing Peter looking after him, the same way his mother did every time his father drunk himself into oblivion.

“Tony!?” Peter asks again. 

Peter is lightly shaking Tony’s shoulder looking for any kind of response, so Tony gives a small nod. 

“M’fine” he finally manages to say.

Tony flinches at the sound of his own voice, god he sounds horrible. Peter dresses Tony’s hand with some bandages before helping him off the couch and practically carrying Tony toward the elevator.

“Friday, please I know only Pepper and Tony have permission to go into room but please let me on that floor, he needs his bed” Peter urges, lifting up Tony up a little more. 

“Pepper Potts, Tony Stark and Peter Parker all have unlimited access to Stark tower” Friday replies. 

Her reply makes Tony smile a bit he forgot he did that. Tony told Friday to give Peter access to Peppers and his floor after Peter came to live with them permanently, just in case he needed anything he could come and get Tony or Pepper.

The doors open to the suite, Peter carries Tony to the bedroom pulling the sheets off and pushing Tony down onto the bed. 

He must have passed out shortly afterwards because he doesn't remember anything else until the next day, when he wakes up with a splitting migraine.

The lights are off, but Tony turns the side light on, seeing a bottle of water and a couple painkillers.

Peter must have put them there, Tony really doesn’t deserve this kid Tony thinks to himself, as he sips at the water slowly, swallowing the painkillers.

Tony tries and fails to not to kick himself for drinking, because there is nothing he can do about it.

He just lost control, he was weak, and the kid saw it all.

Tony just has to suck it up and reap the repercussions, making it up to Peter in every way possible was number one of his lists.

Tony lays back down as his mirage worsens, he rolls back over hoping the painkillers will take effect soon, hoping he’ll be able to sleep off his hangover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.”  
> — Lyndon B. Johnson


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a wonderful day/evening/night 
> 
> Disclaimer: I love Tony Stark and Robert Downey Jr very much. This is in no way trying to make him look like the “bad guy” (no drinking alcohol legally does not make you a bad person) everyone has problems and there own way of dealing with it and that’s okay Tony does indeed have a drinking problem, but just know that no matter the the problems you face and the way you face them a relapse is okay. You are human and we all have bad days just start again from day one and see if you can hear your record of beating not smoking or drinking less or getting better at self care, whatever it may be you can do it and I believe in you. 
> 
> This is just a difficult time for Tony and much like when he found out he didn’t have very long to live in Iron Man 2 he took to drinking.

Peter wakes up with a start as he hears something smash, followed by Tony swearing loudly.

He jumps out of bed and runs to where the noise came from seeing Tony on the floor, there’s broken glass and blood everywhere.

“Tony?” Peter calls out to the older man as he starts to slowly get up. 

Peter thinks that Tony might be drunk because he can’t seem to walk very straight.

Peter slowly walks up to Tony, taking his bloody hand in his, wincing because it looks really painful.

Peter gently leads Tony over to the couch, sitting him down before he grabs the first aid kit nearby, starting to clean up Tony’s hand a gently as he can.

Tony is swaying, he moans lowly like he's in pain. 

“Tony!? are you okay” Peter asks. 

He is starting to get a little worried because he doesn't know how to deal with a drunk person, what if he has alcohol poisoning?

Tony slowly opens his eyes and looks straight at Peter. The older man’ eyes soften, looking like he might cry. 

“Tony!?” Peter asks one more time very gently shaking Tony’s shoulder.

“M’fine” Tony replies. 

He flinches as Peter dresses his hand, causing peter apologise over and over even though he doesn't think Tony can him because his eyes are shut again.

Peter very carefully helps Tony off the couch, supporting most of the older man’s weight as they walk toward the elevator.

Peter bites his lip as they get into the elevator, remembering only Tony and Pepper have access to their suite he hopes being with Tony is enough but just in case he asks, almost pleads with Friday.

“Friday, please I know only Pepper and Tony have permission to come into this room but please let me on that floor he needs his bed” Peter begs, shifting his weight as Tony starts to fall forward.

“Pepper Potts, Tony Stark and Peter Parker all have unlimited access to Stark tower” Friday replies. 

That’s really odd Peter thinks, wondering why they did that or if it was just a glitch, Peter snaps out his own thoughts when the doors open.

He practically carries Tony to his bed, pulling back the sheets and letting him fall into bed.

Tony passes out almost immediately, so Peter pulls off Tonys shoes because no one wants to sleep in shoes, throwing the covers over the older man.

Peter grabs a bottle of water from the fridge, as well as a few painkillers from the first aid kit placing them on Tony’s bedside table.

He also empties the bin and puts it close to Tony just in case, before heading back to the party room to clean up the mess.

That’s when he finds a flip phone and a piece of paper, confused he picks up the flip phone because why would Tony even have one of these? he makes phones 100x better than this one, that’s when he picked up the letter.

Peter almost don't read it, but curiosity gets the better of him.

It turns out the phone is from Steve, that makes a lot more sense, Peter pieces everything together once he spots another piece of paper on the floor, reading it over and finding it’s a brand-new Accords, one with different rules.

Tony must have been calling to get them to sign but couldn’t bring himself to do it, Peter sighs heavily before cleaning up, once everything looks good as new Peter heads to his room.

He stays awake for a few more hours first, to look up alcohol poisoning just to be safe, once Peter sees that Tony’s is fine, he then researches how to look after hungover people because he doesn’t want to make anything worse by trying to help.

After Peter is satisfied with his research he falls asleep asking Friday to let him know when Tony was up and how his mentor is coping.

Friday informs Peter that Tony is awake around 12 pm, Peter waits for a little bit before grabbing another bottle of water and grabbing the plate of cheese toasties (after a ton of research apparently, they are the best hangover food?).

Peter tiptoes as quietly as he can to Tony’s room. 

“Tony? I have some more water and food” Peter whispers, putting them both on the bedside table.

“Thanks, kid,” Tony says grabbing the bottle of water, Peter smiles leaving the room quietly.

Peter is sitting on the couch flicking through the channels trying to find something interesting to watch when the phone comes back to mind.

Tony looks so sad when he mentions his old friends, Peter doesn't know everything that happened, Tony didn't tell him much when he invited Peter to fight with him in Germany, but he knows enough.

Peter also knows enough to see that Tony clearly wants to make amends, this might be the stupidest decision Peter has ever made but he picks up the phone and pressed dial.

“Tony?” a voice answers after a few rings. 

“Ummm no, hi my name is Peter and I’m Tony Starks assistant” he rushes out in fear of Captain America hanging up on him.

Trying to keep calm because he’s on the phone with Captain freaking America right now.

“I call bullshit, it sounds like a kid,” says another voice, falcon?. 

“Who are you?” asks another voice, Peter is pretty sure its Hawkeye.

Peter tries to keep his voice steady as he tries not to panic for multiple reasons, the first reason because he’s talking to a bunch on Avengers on the phone, secondly because they might kick his ass if he doesn't come up with a better cover story.

Peter starts to panic

and he rambles when he panics.

“I umm I’m… I’m calling because Dad was trying to call you last night, he couldn't do it because of uh reasons, but he is upset over everything that happened and he really wants to be friend with you guys again, he has written a new accords and everything all you guys need to do is meet him here and sign it, then everything will be better, you guys can all be friends again, no one will have to feel bad or guilty, n-not saying that you guys do or uh should, but I’m just saying all those bad feelings will go away and be replaced with new, better ones, because you guys will be friends again” Peter answers quickly, tumbling over his words as he starts to panic more.

“New accords?” Captain America's voice says. 

“Am I the only one that heard the kid say, Dad?” Hawkeye speaks up. 

“I heard that too,” A young sounding female says, Peter assumes it’s the woman with the glowing fingers that Vision goes to see every weekend.

He thinks he remembers Vision saying her name is Wanda? Peter freezes, oh god did he really just call Tony Stark dad on the phone to a bunch of famous superheroes!?.

“I Ummm, I said Tony” Peter tries to recover, closing his eyes at his pathetic save Peter.

“Just umm, please come here soon I’ll be sure to tell Tony Stark of your arrival, he or I will be in contact with you if anything changes in the near future,” Peter says hanging up.

Peters panic doesn't cease as he has now had to tell Tony what he just did. Peter decides to do it right away before the nerves get the better of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being.” Lech Walesa


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope you are well today ☺️

Tony isn't proud of this but being a recovering alcoholic hangover are fairly easy to get rid of just a little more sleep and water than usual and he’s good to go in a few hours.

Tony just finished changing into some fresh clothes, about to go out into the lounge room when Peter comes into his room.

“Hi, how are you feeling?” he asks quietly

“Much better kid the headache is almost gone, and I should be able to stomach dinner” Tony answers as they walk out into the shared lounge room.

Peter is biting his lip and fiddling with his hoodie sleeve.

“is everything okay Peter?” Tony asks

Peter shakes his head looking at the floor continuing to fuss at his clothes nervously. 

“What happened?” he asks the boy.

“I’m sorry, I realised how stupid it was when I called, knew I was making a big mistake and completely invading your privacy, but before I could hang up they answered, and I just kept talking and I couldn't stop because sometimes when I get really nervous, once I start talking I don't stop and” Peter rambles. 

“kind of like right now” Tony says, cutting Peter off, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah…...sorry” Peter says, taking a deep breath. 

“When I was cleaning up last night, I found the phone, the letter and the contract” 

“noticed how distracted you’ve been lately all the phone calls and meetings, how sad you get when you talk about the other Avengers” 

“you said yourself that you want to be friends again, going off of what happened last night. I gathered you were struggling to call them” 

“I know it is so not my business and I was way out of line and everything, but I called them and told them all about the new contract you made, not in detail because I didn't completely understand” 

“I didn't think something that important should be discussed in detail over the phone anyways. So they are coming here to talk about the accords sometime next week” Peter finally says.

Tony focuses on breathing as he takes in the kid’s words.

He doesn't know what makes him panic more.

The fact that not only did Peter look after his stupid drunk ass, but he also cleaned up after him.

The fact that the kid successfully managed to do what Tony had been struggling to do, he’s here to help Peter, not the other way around.

Tony is the adult and here Peter is looking after him, cleaning up after him, doing the jobs that he can’t or the fact that Peter is doing Tony’s damn job for him, succeeded in inviting the rouge Avengers to his home.

At some point lost in thought, Tony must have forgotten to focus on breathing and is now having a full-blown panic attack, it hurts as Tony tries to breathe his vision blurs as he tries and fails to ground himself.

“Tony? Tony!?” Tony hears Peter saying. 

He feels Peters' hands grab his, Peter putting Tonys’ hand on his chest.

“Tony can you hear me? can you feel me breathing?” Peter asks.

Tony nods tears starting to well up in his eyes, because Peter is copying exactly what he did when Peter had a panic attack.

“Copy my breathing” Peter gently whispers

“Okay ready Tony? in,” Peter says.

Tony counts to four in his head, as Peter counts out loud.

“Hold for 7” Peter instructs

Once again counting in his head as he listens to Peter softly count to 7

“and out,” Peter says, counting slowly down from 8 as Tony counts in his head.

Peter gives Tony’s hands a gentle squeeze, grounding Tony as they count down from 8 together.

Tony opens his eyes to see Peters worried face looking right at him.

“I really am sorry, I know it was wrong, but before I could fix my mistake it was too late” Peter says “please don’t be mad”.

“Hey, it’s okay, I’m not mad” Tony promises the younger boy, getting up and sitting on the couch, patting the spot next to him.

This conversation was going to be a long, serious one

“I’m proud to tell you the truth, you took initiative, you’re right, it really was bumming me out and god knows I wouldn't have made the call anytime soon” 

“You probably saved me a world of hurt. I’m not going to lie, this isn’t going to be smooth sailing, there will be plenty of up and downs as we work out of problems and differences” 

“a conversation I had with the king of Wakanda, whose father was also killed by the Winter Soldier helped me a great deal, he told me that he has forgiven and aided in healing Bucky, as he sees them as two different men” 

“I can be angry at the winter soldier because he was the weapon, completely unaware of what he was doing. Bucky Barns, however, is a rather gentle soul” 

“T’Challa gave me an example, saying that if a person who you care for is shot, it is not the gun you steer your anger towards but the person who pulled the trigger” Tony tells Peter, trying to quote T’challas advice word for word.

Peter nods sadly “Yeah I understand completely, I was in the same situation when Uncle Ben was shot,” Peter said flinching at the memory.

“I was so angry at myself, at the man who shot him, he killed my Uncle who I loved so much leaving me and Aunt May all alone and I hated him, one night during patrol about a month after, I found him” 

“At first, I wanted to hurt him like he hurt my family, but I snapped out of that thought quickly because that’s not what Spiderman is used for, he protects the city and everyone in it but most importantly that not who I am” 

“as soon as I got my powers I swore that I would never kill anyone and I would always try my best to save everyone I could. So, I webbed him up and walked away, I chose to be the bigger person because if I sunk to his level that night then I would be just as bad as he was” Peter says looking up at Tony. 

The young boys eyes showing a range of emotion as Tony look into them, he sees a lot more burden then anyone should have carry, let alone a kid Peters age.

A majority of the time Peter was just a 15-year-old kid, getting way to excited over little things, talking too much, hanging out with his friends, playing games, doing nerdy things and going to school but there was another side to Peter, a much more mature side, a young vigilante who had to deal with the downsides of being a hero.

A teenager who carried so much pain, loss and burden, a kid who had the weight of the world on his shoulders, the world which this kid swore to protect, the same world who doesn't deserve someone who has a heart of gold, someone as amazing and truly brilliant as Peter Parker.

Tony smiles at Peter, bringing him in for a hug. 

“You’re too good for this world kiddo” He tells Peter, who squeezes Tony tight.

“I love you Tony” Peter says looking up at him, the words take Tony back a little. 

“I love you too kid” Tony replies with no hesitation at all, hugging Peter closer before letting him go. 

“I’ll cook tonight, you still look a little pale” Peter says.

He grins brightly and gets up, running to the kitchen springing back to his happy go lucky self after such a deep conversation.

He really doesn't deserve this kid Tony thinks, as he watches Peter skipping around the kitchen looking for the ingredients he needs.

“You’re wrong” says a voice. 

Slightly startled Tony who looks up to see Nat sitting in the corner of the room, twirling a knife.

“I’m wrong?” He repeats confused.

“You deserve him as much as he deserves you,” Nat says, with a smile before leaving.

Tony smiles at her words, heading towards the kitchen to help Peter with dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough - Og Mandino.


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will definitely try and keep on top of things but I'm sorry if my uploads get a little slower, University is starting up again tomorrow so I'll have class and assignments to worry about :)

The week back school after the break goes exactly how you'd expect. 

No one wants to be back including the teachers, everyone is still in holiday mode, so it’s fair to say that the week is pretty easy going as far as school goes, but then on Thursday, Flash came up to Peters table at lunch. 

“Uhm hey guys.... do you mind if I sit with you guys today?” Flash asks.

MJ looks sceptical, choosing not to say anything and Ned just looks confused, so it’s Peter who turns to Flash giving him a small smiling.

“Sure” he replies giving Flash a friendly smile. 

Ned nods and MJ just scoots over to make room for Flash.

“Listen I know I haven't been the nicest guy, especially to you Peter, but a lot happened these holidays and I realized that it’s not worth being an asshole, because then everyone just hates you, I know me apologizing probably doesn't mean anything, but I wanted to say it anyway” Flash says nervously. 

“I totally don't expect or deserve to become friends with you guys, but uh if you wanted to, I think it would be awesome and I’d really like it if we could at least try and be friends” Flash asks, he waits for a little before getting up and going to walk away.

'I’d like that too,” Peter tells flash as he guesses what Flash must be talking about.

The poor guy must have had a run-in with his father during the break. Ned and MJ both nod, still looking a little confused but happy, they are the type of people to forgive and forget pretty easily. The lunch bell goes and Peter heads off to physics, which is the one class he doesn't share with either Ned or MJ, but he does share with Flash.

“Hey, did you, want to…...you know, sit together?” he asks Flash, catching up with him as they continue walking to class.

“Why?” Flash asks.

“Why, do I want to sit with you?” Peter asks confused.

'No Peter, why did you forgive me so easily?” Flash asks

“How can you be so nice? I have been a complete asshole to you, for years and you just took it” Flash says, running his fingers angrily through his hair.

Peter just smiles at him

"We all have different coping mechanisms Flash, hate isn't going to change to the world. Spreading kindness does, even to those who the world has deemed unworthy of kindness because those are people that need kindness the most, it’s really okay, I’d like to be your friend” Peter promises him, as they sit down together, ready for class to begin.

Halfway through class Flash shoves a folded-up piece of Paper toward Peter. ‘Sleepover at mine this weekend?’ It reads

“Mums away and she took my little sister with her, so I wouldn’t have to babysit” he whispers.

‘I’ll ask’ Peter writes back, along with his phone number. Flash smiles at Peter and nods. 

Peter gets home and walks into the workshop he spots Tony and walks over smiling. 

"Hey Tony, is it okay if I go to a sleepover Saturday?" He asks Tony, a hopeful smile on his face. 

"Yeah I have a few meetings to attend so I'll have happy drop you off at Neds" Tony replies not looking up from his tinkering. 

"I uh actually Flash asked, Ned is coming but it isn't at his house, it's at Flashes" Peter informs him 

That makes Tony look up from his work concern shadowing his face, Tony thinks for a little before speaking. 

"You sure that's a good idea kid? I know you told me that you forgave him and you are friends now, but you can't let people walk all over you if he starts acting in any kind of way that makes you uncomfortable you call me and I will pick you up immediately" Tony replies biting his lip. 

"It will be okay Tony, I promise, he had reasons, I know it isnt an excuse but I'll explain when I get home from the sleepover with Flashes permisson," Peter says hugging Tony 

"I know kid, I know" Tony replies hugging back. 

Once Peter has confirmed permission he runs off to his room to pack an overnight bag. 

The weekend rolls around fast, it feels like before he can even blink. Happy is dropping him off in front of Flashes house. It’s massive, it’s like a mansion, Peter uses the door knocker to knock

“Hey Peter, Ned and MJ just left their houses, so they should be here soon,” Flash says, opening the door, letting Peter inside.

“Awesome!” Peter says, looking around

“Nice house” he finally spits out.

“Yeah, it’s great,” Flash says, sporting a wide grin.

“Hey umm bit of an awkward question, but Ned and MJ were included in the whole you weren’t going to tell anyone about my situation thing, right?” Flash asks.

“Yeah, of course, they don’t even know you know I’m Spider-Man” Peter promises Flash.

“It totally slipped my mind, maybe we should tell them tonight, not the whole thing, but the Spider-Man thing,” Peter says quickly clarifying, before Flash panics

“Nah, I gathered' Flash laughs, before as serious look comes over his face

“But for real though, I think I should tell them that too, if you guys are going to be my friends they have a right to know why I acted the way I did,” Flash says, nervously as there’s a knock at the door.

“Up to you dude,” Peter quickly says, before Flash opens the door. 

“Hi,” Ned says

“Hi, come on in,” Flash says, stepping aside

"Nice house,” Ned says immediately

"Dude that’s exactly what I said!” Peter commented laughing. 

He gives Ned a high five as there’s another knock on the door, MJ entering the living room a few moments later.

“Hey, losers” MJ greets

“Hey MJ” Peter and Ned respond, waving.

“Where do we put our stuff?” MJ asks they follow flash to his room where he has a bunch of mattresses on the floor.

They play truth or dare for a while

“Truth or dare MJ,” Flash asks

“Dare” MJ responds

“Kiss Parker” Flash dare.

“What!?, MJ you don't have to if you don't want to, really I” Peter starts to speak, but he's cut off by MJ’s lips pressing against his.

Although short the kiss feels amazing, he doesn't have anything to compare it too because that was his first kiss, but it was brilliant. He feels his cheeks light up. 

Peter turns redder when Flash mouths “You’re welcome” at him.

They play another few rounds of truth or dare until they decide to order pizza and start watching some movies. They go for a midnight swim until they start to get cold, so they run inside to dry off and put their pyjamas on. They watched IT, which was a bad idea because it was horrifying. MJ spends nearly the whole movie hid behind Ned and Peter, who felt horrible because he only remembers halfway through the movie that she has a fear of clowns.

“Should we watch the rest?” he asks, as he feels MJ tense up again as the clown comes back on screen.

“I’m down to watch the rest, but if you guys want me to turn it off I will because you’re the guests,” Flash says, trying to hide the fear in his tone.

“Shut up, you screamed the most out of all of us,” MJ says, throwing her pillow at Flash which starts a pillow fight.

Laughing as they collapse on their beds, putting a comedy on to get rid of the last remaining creepy images. They turn Brookln99 off to chat for a little while. Flash told MJ and Ned about his Dad they were sad that Flash had to deal with someone like that, but they were just as glad as Peter was when he told them his mother had sorted it out. 

Peter was right, Flashes father had come back to the house during the school break. He was drunk and tried to apologize for what he had done but became violent quickly, trying to break the door down when no one would open the door. The police arrived a few minutes later, but the experience still had Flash a little rattled. Flash also explained how Peter had found out before them, having helped his mother out as Spider-Man. That led into the story of how Flash found out about Peters secret identity. The conversation went on a little longer, they would burst into fits of laughter every now and again when someone would tell a dumb joke or remind everyone of something stupid that was said or done today. Conversation dies down as everyone starts to get too tired to keep a conversation going. 

Peter soon drifts off to sleep, he is sitting on the couch in his old apartment Aunt May and Uncle come out of their room and sits next to him on the couch.

“Peter sweetheart,” Aunt May says, lifting his chin to look him in the eyes.

She opens her mouth to speak but she is cut off by a sob. 

"Petey” Uncle Ben says wrapping an around Peters' shoulder. 

"The plane Mummy and Daddy where on didn't make it home”

Peter is still in shock at seeing both his Aunt May and Uncle Ben that he stares in shock crying for not only his parents, who the only memories he has of them are from pictures and home videos, but for his Aunt and Uncle. 

Aunt May and Uncle Ben hold him in their arms as they cry. Peter suddenly feels one of the pairs of arms disappear from around him, he looks up and sees a slightly older Aunt May who is crying, simultaneously whispering over and over again that they are going to be okay. Much like the first time Peter is left wondering if she was trying to reassure him or convince herself.

“I love you,” Peter tells her hugging her tightly, god he misses her hugs.

Peter holds onto her as tightly as he can dreading what’s going happen next. He wants to wake up, he knows this is a dream and he wants to wake up. Peter squeezes his eyes shut tightly, hoping that when he opens them he’ll be back in reality. Peter opens his eyes, but he is still sitting on his old couch in his old apartment.

"Bye Peter, I’m going to go pick up my dry cleaning,” Aunt May says.

He wants to cry, she looks so alive and so happy. 

“No please don't go” Peter screams out. 

But she doesn't hear him the scene in front of him playing out just like it had all those months ago.

“Please stop!” he yells again. 

His voice falling flat as he tries to grab her hand, phasing right through her like he wasn't there. He can’t stop it her, couldn't save them, he couldn't save anyone.

“Please” Peter sobs as the door clicks closed.

He jumps at the sound of the phone ringing. 

“No!” Peter shouts. 

Because if he doesn't pick up the phone it isn't real right?

But maybe this time it will be different? a small voice of hope says in the back of his mind he squeezes his eyes shut as he picks up the phone. 

“Please” he cries into the phone.

“Peter?” A voice says. 

“Peter?” a different voice says. 

“Please,” he says. 

He is starting to panic, he can't relive this, being aware that it’s a nightmare is terrifying him even more because he can’t escape, he doesn’t know how to wake up.

“PETER!” the voices shout. 

Peter opens his eyes as he begins to panic. Peter doesn’t know where he is 

“Peter,” someone says gently 

He looks toward the voice his eyes focusing on Ned, who now has both of his hands gently placed on his shoulders. Peter gives his friends a shaky smile, hugging him letting out a deep breath as Flash starts to talk

“You scared the shit out of me dude you kept yelling please and no” Flash said, turning his bedside light casting a shadow on his worried expression.

“Sorry” Peter mumbles into his pillow letting himself fall back onto the mattress. 

“I have nightmares sometimes, it no big deal and kind of embarrassing if I'm being completely honest” Peter explains, debating seriously whether or not to call Tony to come and get him.

One of the things he feared most just happened, he had a nightmare in front of his best friends and Flash who is very quickly becoming a really good pal, but what if this changes his mind? what if this solidifies any lingering feelings Flash had toward Peter previously and changes his mind about being Peters friend. Peter shakes his head locking his phone, it’s too late to not be the stupid little kid who has nightmares, but it's not too late to be the kid who calls his Dad after having said nightmare. He goes to the bathroom and splashes his face with water, taking a few more deep breaths before heading back to Flashes room. He enters and is met by three pairs of worried eyes. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Flash asks.

Peter shakes his head in response

"Can we just pretend that didn't happen?” he asks because if they don't Peter thinks he might die of embarrassment.

They all look like they are about to argue but drop it when he shoots them another pleading look, laying back down on the mattress. Peters panic settles as both Ned and MJ move just a little bit closer to him, thankful that he has such amazing best friends. He is just as thankful when Flash gives him a reassuring smile admitting that he also had regular nightmares until recently they had stopped when his dad had moved out.

“Sorry man that sucks, no one deserves a dad like that” Peter says giving Flash a small smile. 

Flash shrugs, smiling back before he settles back down into his bed leaving the bedside table light on. 

They wake up a few hours later, while they eat pancakes watching Brookln99 spending the rest of the morning quoting episodes. It a hot day so go they outside to test how cold the pool is before they swim. Ned suddenly does that laugh he does when he's up to something, Peter turns around to see what he's going to do but he is pushed into the pool before he has the chance to turn around. 

“Dude!” Peter says, surfacing laughing. 

“At least help me out” Peter complains, reaching his hand out.

Ned foolishly takes Peters outstretched hand, Peter laughs evilly as he pulls Ned into the pool. 

“Dude! as if you'd fall for that” Peter says, laugh harder splashing Ned.

The boys then grin at each other and turn to look at the others who scream and go running inside. Ned grabs Flash and tackles him into the pool, Peter grabs MJ jumping into the pool with her. They laugh until they are crying, swimming around in their PJ’s not bothering to get changed. They change into bathers to eat lunch. 

“It’s like an opposite day,” Ned says laughing. 

“Well, in that case, you guys suck,” Flash says smirking.

"You guys are literally the worst” MJ adds

“I hate you guys” Ned chips in

“This sleepover hasn't been fun at all” Peter Comments.

They spend the rest of the day just chilling out and talking on the beds, they didn't even notice they had all fallen back asleep again until there’s a knock on the door jolting them awake.

“Hey Happy,” Peter says grabbing his overnight bag. 

“Bye guys,” he says, waving as he leaves, a chorus of goodbyes follow.

Peter sees Ned’s Mum’s Car and MJ’s Dad’s car pull up as Happy pulls away, starting to drive home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can do it.   
> I believe in you.   
> You should believe in yourself.  
> But if you can't.  
> I'll believe you enough for both of us. 
> 
> “You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.” – Stephen King


	36. Chapter 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are you guys doing?   
> I hope you are well and your day/evening/night is as wonderful as you are.

Tony has a lot of work to do for Peters birthday, which is in three days. Tony thought he had everything organized a few days ago. 

He had a big crazy party all planned out, it was all ready to go but when Tony invited Peters friends, telling them what he had planned, needing their help to get Peter out the house whilst he set up. 

Ned told Tony that he wasn't sure if his best friend would like everything Tony had planned. 

Tony cursed himself because of course, Peter wouldn't want to go to a massive house party, with the works everything you could think and dream of was going to be at the birthday party. 

Tony made it much like the ones his mother and father had thrown him when he was younger, come to think of it, maybe they spent all that money on gifts and parties to buy his love to make up for the crappy parenting (mostly on his father’s side). 

Tony didn't want Peter to think he was doing the same to him, a simple party from the heart is what Peter would appreciate more. So with the help of Peters friends, they would organize the perfect party. 

“I’ll be back later guys,” Tony tells Bruce and Peter as he walks into Bruce's lab. 

“Have fun at the meeting” Bruce says, giving Tony a knowing smile. He helped Tony to organize this. 

Bruce would ask Peter to help him in his lab and Tony would go to his “meeting”, which was meeting Peters friends at the local cafe, so they could organize Peters birthday party. 

“Okay bye Tony,” Peter says, looking up from what he and Bruce were working on.

“Bye kid” Tony repeats ruffling Peters' hair.

Tony arrives at the cafe just in time to see Ned, MJ and Flash. Tony still wasn't thrilled with the friendship Peter had made with Flash. 

Peter was such a forgiving and trustworthy person, more often than not people took advantage of that, but after Peter had gotten Flashes permission Peter told Tony why Flash had acted that way. 

After that conversation, he immediately understood, as Tony himself acted the same way when he was in the same situation. However, it took him a much longer time to become a better person and fix his mistakes. 

It made Tony happy to see Flash choose to make amends and fix things in high school, not waiting as he did, only fixing things when the media and half the world hated him to finally work on fixing his “daddy issues”. 

Tony booked out the whole cafe but he’s still wearing sunglasses and a hat just in case someone happens to peek inside. Not wanting countless rumours about what Tony Stark is doing having a conversation with three minors starts circulating the news. 

“What have we got?” Tony asks, sitting down.

“Peter tells me that you complain about his clothes all the time, so why not get him out of the house by taking him clothes shopping, so we can set up the party?” MJ suggests.

“I don’t complain all the time; the kid can wear what he wants. I just know the kid owns like 5 shirts, 2 pairs of Jeans and a few hoodies” Tony expresses defensively.

“Come to think it why I haven’t taken him shopping sooner?” he asks himself.

It doesn't take them long to get into the swing of things

“Peters favourite type of cake is mud cake,” Ned says

“His favourite ice-cream is rocky road” MJ adds. 

It only takes an hour to plan Peters party food, decorations, the lot.

Peters friends are buying the decorations, which Tony gives them the money for. Tony then sent a reminder to Friday to order all the party food and drinks separately, so Peter wouldn't see the extra groceries coming in that week.

He couldn't help but smile as he watched the three teenagers excitedly talk about the surprise party and how well it was going to go before they went to go shopping for the decorations because Peters party was this up and coming Saturday. 

Saturday came quickly, Tony set an alarm for even earlier than usual at Peppers request because she wanted to cook a breakfast banquet. She hopped out of bed pulling him out of bed with her.

She crept quietly into the kitchen. Tony and Pepper worked effortlessly together, falling into sync with one another as they made different types of pancakes and waffles, making extra chocolate chip pancakes because they were the kids favourite.

They prepared fruits and pretty much every kind of breakfast food you could think of. Finally had all the food spread out as they made Friday send a message to the others telling them to get their asses into the kitchen before Peter woke up, which was usually around 9 on weekends and it was currently 8:55.

Nat was the first to come into the kitchen looking ready for the day has probably already worked out and done everything she needed to that day already.

Followed shortly by Vision who of course didn’t need to sleep. Bruce came up from his lab, glasses still on reading over a paper he was working on.

Rhodes dressed but looking half asleep still was the last to arrive at the table just sitting down when Peter came around the corner dressed but hadn't bothered to tame his curly bed hair. 

It took Peter a while, but he is eventually able to talk about May without pain. Sadness, yes but the wrenching pain is gone.

Peter is happy about that because he thinks the last thing May would have wanted was for Peter to become empty, distant and sad all the time. His friends and the Avengers have been great and so understanding, he can tell that because his spirits have finally lifted and so have theirs.

Peter is finally himself again and it feels wonderful, some days are harder than others today is one of those days. 

“Happy Birthday!” Tony, Natasha, Vision, Bruce and Rhodes yell as Peter comes into the kitchen, a massive breakfast buffet is spread out on the counter in front of them.

“Woah,” he says looking at all the food. 

“Morning guys, this looks amazing,” he tells, them sitting down in between Natasha and Rhodes.

“Dig in kid,” Tony says, handing him a plate Peter grabs a couple of pancakes and some fruit-eating them slowly.

“This is delicious!” he says, after taking a bite of a strawberry. 

“I know it’s your birthday and all, but you still shouldn't talk with your mouth full” retorts Tony.

“Sorry Tony” he responds sheepishly. 

“Come on Tony what’s wrong with talking with your mouth full,” Rhodes says eating a waffle while talking. 

Natasha throws another waffle at him in disgust, he just catches it and shoves that in his mouth too. Peter holds back his laughter as Rhodes shoots Peter a grin, winking.

They sit and chat while they eat breakfast. A food fight may or may not have broken out when Tony accidentally spilt the maple syrup on Rhodes when he was passing it to him.

Peter dodges another pancake that is frisbeed at him as he laughs loudly. 

“I don’t know about you guys, but I think it’s a little unfair that Peter isn't covered in breakfast foods like the rest of us,” says Natasha, who ironically had the least amount of food on her next to Peter. 

She laughs as she quickly grabs him from behind, holding him still while the others grin evilly.

Rhodes grabs the maple syrup, Tony arms himself with whipped cream.

Rhodes pours the remaining maple syrup all over Peter before tony squirts whipped cream on Peters' face before making a pile on his head.

Pepper laughing grabs a cherry from the fruit bowl, placing it carefully in the middle of the whipped cream.

“You guys only won because you ganged up on me,” Peter said. 

He grinned as he quickly turned around in Natasha’s grip, giving her a big hug making sure to transfer as much maple syrup and cream onto her as he could. She groans grossed out by all the food as Peter pulls away. 

“Well I'm going to go shower” Peter informs everyone. 

“Why? you look fine” Bruce says smirking.

“Thanks, Bruce,” Peter says, patting him on the shoulder covering his shirt in syrup.

“I just washed this shirt” Bruce complains. 

“Aww hug it out,” Rhodes says, hugging Bruce covering him in more food.

Peter laughs as he sees the look on Bruce’s face, they all shower and change their clothes. Peter comes back out into the lounge room to immediately have presents shoved into his hands by vision.

“Thank you, you really didn't have to,” he tells vision. 

He starts tearing off the paper the smaller of the two gifts, bursting out laughing when he holds up the PLEASE KNOCK sign, as he remembers when he first came to visit Vision was still getting used to doors and didn’t quite understand that phasing through someone’s wall randomly wasn't okay. 

He still forgets every now and again, but it has gotten a lot better. Peter opens up the larger of the two and finds the newest Lego kit.

“Are you sure!?” he asks wide-eyed. 

Peter knows just how expensive this one was. He and Ned have been saving their money for months to buy it together and they weren't even halfway there with their savings.

“Why would I not be sure, I have gifted this to you, therefore, I have thought about it, do you not like it?” Vision asks, confused. 

“No! Vision I love it thank you!” Peter quickly says, getting up hugging him.

“That makes me very glad Peter,” Vision says. 

He smiles sitting down as Natasha comes up next handing him a quite a large box, inside was a smaller box containing an R2 D2 protection alarm clock. Which was the coolest alarm clock Peter has ever seen and another box which had a multipurpose tool inside.

“They come in pretty handy,” she says.

“Thank you!” he says, jumping up and hugging her. 

"They are really cool” he thanks her again. 

Rhodes gifts Peter some noise-cancelling headphones. 

“Thank you, guys you really didn't have to go to all this trouble,” Peter tells them.

Rhodes grabs Peters hand pulling him from the couch before pulling him in for a hug. 

“Come on, give your Uncle Rodney a hug,” he says.

Peter feels his cheeks heat up at his words but hugs him back. Peter didn't expect any presents, but everyone got him awesome gifts.

Bruce got him Rubik’s cube and this awesome book all about science that they were talking about in his lab a few days ago, even Happy got him this awesome retro speaker.

Tony suddenly grabs Peter and takes him somewhere, ignoring Peter when he asks what’s happening, taking him to the garage in silence. They get into one of Tony’s cars, Tony still ignores Peter when he asks where they are going. He beings panicking when he sees where they have pulled up in front of. 

The DMV. 

“I don't think I'm ready Tony,” Peter tells his mentor nervously. 

“I’ve only ever driven in a car park with May and I crashed Flashes car big time when I drove on the road for the first time” he explains.

“Which is why I didn't tell you, you over these things, so I didn't give you time to overthink get in there your test is in 5 minutes,” Tony says. 

Peters' eyes go wide, you can drive this one for your test, I’ll wait at the local cafe and you can drive us home when you pass” Tony says, smiling and getting out the car. 

Tony might have been right about overthinking things because Peter passes the test with flying colours. A few hours later and Peter is driving home concentrating on the road. 

“Thank you for letting me borrow this car for my test” he thanks Tony, as he pulls into the driveway.

“Glad you like your car” Tony replies. 

“WHAT!?” Peter yells.

“Tony I…no, this is way too much, this…...this isn't my birthday present, is it? this is way too much!” Peter expresses. 

Peter doesn't even want to think how much this cost and that Tony spent that money on him.

“Hell, no this isn't your birthday present,” Tony says causing Peter to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Tony Stark isn't that cliché,” he says rolling his eyes. 

“This is your congratulations on your license present, your birthday presents are in the workshop” He finishes.

“Tony!….I” Peter starts to protest. 

“Peter, stop if I didn't want to get you the car. I wouldn’t have, just accept my gift like you did everyone else’s” Tony cuts him off.

“Thank you so much, this is amazing, I think I’m in shock,” Peter says, hugging Tony painfully tight.

“Loosen the grip kiddo” Tony wheezes. 

“Whoops sorry,” Peter says, stepping back.

He follows Tony into the workshop to see three beautifully wrapped presents on his workstation, the first is tickets to the Mets baseball game, Tony being who he is has bought out the club seating area so it’s just them in the VIP seating area. There’s a ticket for everyone that wants to come including Ned, MJ and Flash.

The second box contains a Star Wars chess set, it’s amazing it looks like each piece has been expertly carved out of wood, the attention to deal is breathtaking and the last has some very expensive smelling cologne in it.

“You should wear that when you take your girlfriend out on a date,” Tony says, nudging Peter.

“MJ Isn’t my girlfriend” Peter huffs. 

“I didn’t say anything about MJ Pete,” Tony says, smirking at knowingly as Peter blushes furiously.

“I…um…whatever” he finally says, pushing Tony gently

“Just yanking your chain,” he says laughing.

“You’re supposed to be nice to people on their birthdays you know” Peter retorts. 

“Who me? I’m always nice” Tony says in mock horror.

Peter narrows his eyes at him before he cracks a smile. 

“Thank you for such amazing gifts, I love them so much,” he says hugging Tony, gentler this time.

“The day isn't over yet, you’re in desperate need of some new clothes, what do you say you drive us to the mall and we get you some new clothes to wear, or at the very least shoes. The pairs you own are falling apart, one pair is held together with duct tape. I’m honestly shocked that I let you get away with that for so long” Tony says.

At this point, Peter knows it’s not worth resisting, so Tony grabs Pepper and they all get in the car before Peter pulls out the driveway heading to the mall.

Peter parks out the front of the mall, today has been amazing so far, he has already had a lot of fun and its only 12:30 but Peter couldn't help but feel the sadness wash over him again as he thought about May and how this was the first birthday he would have to spend without her.

Tony picks up on Peters change of mood, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“How are you holding up?” Tony asks, his grip still firm on Peters' shoulder as he looks into Peters' eyes.

“Yeah I’m okay,” Peter tells Tony and Pepper, who was sitting in the backseat. 

“You want to talk about it kiddo?” Tony asks, a warm smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smile at someone today, you never know it could make their whole day a whole lot better 
> 
> “In every day, there are 1,440 minutes. That means we have 1,440 daily opportunities to make a positive impact.” — Les Brown


	37. Chapter 37

Peter parks out the front of the shops, Tony couldn’t help but notice the kid looks a little sad but like he is trying to hide it at the same time. Pepper and Tony share a look, she nods, both assuming that Peter must be thinking about May and how much she has missed out on today. 16 is one of the big milestones. 

“How are you holding up?” Tony asks Peter, firmly gripping his shoulder for support looking into his eyes to tell him that it’s okay to talk and that’s exactly what they want him to do. 

“Yeah I’m okay,” Peter says. 

“You want to talk about it kiddo?” Tony asks, giving him a reassuring smile.

“Today was just a little hard because it bought back some memories of May but I’ll be okay, trust me” Peter promises, a small smile on his face. 

“From what I remember my 5th was hard because I didn’t have my Mum and Dad but it was okay because I had Aunt May and Uncle Ben, My 15th birthday was hard too because I didn’t have Uncle Ben but it was okay because I had Aunt May. This birthday is hard because I don't have Aunt May but…...but” Peter says, his voice wobbling as he closes his eyes.

“I know it will be okay because......because I have you,” he says, looking at Tony and Pepper giving them another small smile.

“Yeah kid, you got us” Tony promises him, bringing Peter in for a hug as Pepper leans over smoothing out Peters hair before she kisses the top of his head.

“You want to head home sweetheart?” Pepper asks after a few minutes

“No it’s okay, I think Tony will kill me if I don't get at least one new shirt,” He says smiling cheekily at Tony. 

“Damn straight” Tony teases back, ruffling his hair. 

“Da…ude,” Peter says, cutting himself off. 

Was the kid about to call Tony Dad again and caught himself? Tony wonders quickly brushing off the thought, not wanting to have the same dilemma he did when he first called Tony dad a little while ago. He kicks himself for not talking to him, but Peter was so embarrassed that Tony assumed it was an honest mistake and that the kid really didn't want to talk about it. Pepper and Tony follow Peter into the mall, they get something to eat first because its 1 and Tony starting to feel a little peckish which means Peter is definitely hungry. 

They end up getting KFC, his assumption about Peter being hungry was correct because Peter has finished his burger before Tony can even unwrap his.

“Have you seen what the fluff challenge?” Peter asks, eating his chips.

“The what the what challenge?” Tony asks confused. 

“What the fluff” Peter repeats. 

“it’s really cute and super funny, people hold up a blanket in front of their pets and when they drop it they run and hide behind a door or something and their animal gets super confused and it's adorable,” Peter says, laughing as he pulls out his phone.

He slides his phone across the table as a video starts to play. Tony and Pepper watch the video laughing along with Peter as all the different animals act differently. Peter puts his phone in his pocket as he gets up to put his rubbish in the bin. They get ice cream as they start to wander around the store looking for clothes. 

“Please, can I get these please!?” Peter begs to hold up two god-awful Star wars shirts.

One had the periodic table of Star Wars, replacing the elements in the periodic tables with Star Wars characters. The other was a Starbucks logo with a stormtrooper in the middle, under the logo had the words may the froth be with you.

“You aren't even allowed to drink coffee kid” Tony sighs as Pepper folds up both shirts, putting them in the basket as Peter cheers.

“If I let you get these shirts you have to promise me that you’ll at least buy 2 shirts that don't have Puns or movie references” Tony negotiates with Peter, who is milking the puppy dog eyes as he holds up a grey shirt that says ‘have a slice day’ with a slice of pizza on it. 

Peter grins and nods putting it in the basket smiling up at Tony. 

“You’re right Tony that shirt was pretty cheesy,” he says, laughter bubbling from his mouth.

“I’m in pain,” Tony tells Peter, as he walks off to in search of those shirts he promised Tony he would get.

Two hours later Peter had six new shirts he picked out including those god-awful Star Wars and pizza one. Two new ones that Pepper picked out so they weren't all geeky shirts, a suit which Tony picked out, two pairs of jeans that Tony also picked out for Peter, a pair of sneakers that Peter picked out, and a pair of formal shoes that Pepper and Tony made a joint decision on. A few new jumpers and a bunch of socks because all the kid's socks had holes in them. 

Tony also may or may not have snuck in some iron man PJs. 

Peter asked if Tony could drive home because it was peak hour traffic. Tony agrees because the kid only got his license 5 hours ago, of course, he's still nervous to drive.

Peter puts all the bags in the boot as Tony quickly sends a sneaky text to Rhodes, telling him they are on their way home.

“Thank you,” Peter says from the back seat, as they pull out of the car park. 

“Anytime kid” Tony replies, smiling at him in the rearview mirror.

They pull up to the house and Tony grins as everything looks to be in order, the lights are off and its really quiet, he glances at Peter to see if the kid has noticed anything suspicious, but he is chatting away to Pepper as he gets the bags out the trunk.

Tony shuts the boot and they make their way inside started feeling excited and a little nervous hoping all the planning has made things run smoothly, this surprise would go off without a hit.

Tony opens up the doors and tells Peter to leave the bags by the door for now as they make their way into the lounge room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “The Pessimist Sees Difficulty In Every Opportunity. The Optimist Sees Opportunity In Every Difficulty.” – Winston Churchill


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You  
> Are  
> The   
> Best

Peter puts down the shopping bags and walks into the lounge room, turning the lights on. 

“Surprise” everyone shouts, making Peter jump in surprise.

Peter smiles looking around the room, which is now decorated with streamers, balloons and all sorts of crazy decorations

He rolls his eyes playfully when he sees the Spiderman banner above the hallway and the Spiderman balloons hidden in the corner. Ned, MJ and Flash run up to him, eloping him in a massive group hug as they all start singing happy birthday. 

MJ hands Peter her present first, he rips open the paper and immediately regrets opening it in front of everyone.

It’s an iron man mug, in the mug are novelty socks and pizza band-aids with a sticky note stuck them, which reads ‘These remind me of you because you’re pretty clumsy and you have said on countless occasions that pizza solves everything’.

“Thanks, MJ, I love them there really awesome,” Peter tells her, trying to hide the mug from Tony as he hugs her.

“Dude!” Peter says, opening Neds present, which was a camera.

“Just accept it please,” Ned says.

“Thank you so much man this is too much though,” he says, giving Ned a big hug who just shrugs brushing off Peters comment.

“These are awesome, pun intended?” Peter asks as Flashes laughs and nods.

Peter laughs along looking at the gifts Flash gave him, they are small flashcard games, I.Q. test in a tiny tin, bad jokes in a tin and a tin of crazy ridiculous facts.

“Flash you have literally doomed us all” MJ says, picking up the presents Flash gave Peter.

“Peter comes up with enough of this stuff by himself, he doesn't need MORE ammo,” MJ says, dramatically sighing for effect.

He puts all his gifts in his room thanking everyone again. 

Peter and friends are just talking on the couch, mainly about the decathlon because they have a contest coming up in two weeks and practice has gone into overdrive they now have 2-hour meetings twice a week.

They tired a three-hour meeting, but they all got bored and stopped paying attention around the two-and-a-half-hour mark.

“You kids ready to get this party started?” Tony says, coming over with four beers in his hand.

“I…. umm,” Flash says. 

“Mr Stark we aren't old enough to drink sir” Ned stutters nervously.

“I…. what!? Tony I?” Peter stutters just as confused.

“Breathe, I’m joking, that was also a test, good job for not taking the bait,” Tony says, walking away.

They sit in silence for a few minutes trying to figure out if that really happened. Peter sees Pepper scolding Tony as he puts the beers back in the cooler.

After that encounter the teens decided to escape the adults for a bit, going into Peters room to watch some YouTube. Once they get bored with watching YouTube, they decide to play truth or dare.

Things were tame with truths like, what’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you? Ned shared the story of when he went out to celebrate his Grandmas birthday and accidentally split water all over himself, resulting in the entire restaurant to think that he had wet himself. 

Dares like drink the rest of your lemonade with no hands, which Flash had to change his shirt after completing that dare. On the third round, things started getting a little more challenging. 

“Okay Peter I dare you to go dance with black window” Flash dares Peter.

“No way dude,” Peter says, shaking his head. 

“Okay the default is that you have to tell us the truth about who you're crushing on right now,” Flash says, winking at him.

“Dude” Peter says, glaring at him as he gets up, making his way back into the lounge room.

“Hey umm do you maybe want to dance?” Peter asks, walking up to Natasha who is talking to Pepper.

She raises an eyebrow at Peter before she catches his three friends peaking around the corner giggling.

She grabs his outstretched hand, Peter dances with her for the entire length on the song but once the song finished he quickly thanks her and then runs back to his room, grabbing the others, pushing them inside shutting the door.

“I hate you” Peter declares, looking at Flash who is rolling around on the floor laughing with Peters two other friends.

After that, they stop playing, no one wanting to risk getting an embarrassing truth or dare.

They head back into the lounge room where the adults have started to disperse, so they play a few board games until it’s time to cut the cake, which Peter knows Tony had to have something to do with because the image on the cake was of Spider-Man and Iron Man flying through the city side by side.

It was a really awesome picture just maybe not on his birthday cake because that was just embarrassing. Peter eats two slices of cake, they bought his favourite chocolate mud cake, and it was heavenly. 

It starts to get late so Peters friends leave, the remaining party watch a couple of movies in the cinema. Flash is the first to leave, followed closely by Ned, Peter walks everyone out to their car, thanking them again for coming and their amazing gifts.

MJ is the last to be picked up she gets a text from her brother who says he's five minutes away, so Peter walks her to the door. They see the headlights of her brother’s car, so he thanks her from coming and for her amazing presents.

“Happy Birthday Peter,” she says, wrapping her hands around the back of Peters' neck pulling him in for a kiss.

Peter is frozen, trying to make his brain work enough to kiss her back or say something, but before Peter can even being to process what just happened MJ runs down the stair, hopping into the car waving goodbye as her brother drives off.

Peter stands on the step for goodness knows how long until he snaps out of it enough to make his way back inside. 

Peter sits down on the couch smiling, his brain finally processing what just happened.

“Hey, kiddo have a good night?” Tony asks, coming over to sit next to Peter.

“Yeah,” he answers

“You okay? you seem a little spacey” Tony asks, waving his hand across Peter's face. 

“I’m great” Peter answers, feeling his smile get even bigger as he feels his heart flutter in his chest.

“I think Peter might have gotten a goodbye kiss,” Natasha says, nudging Peter and winking before sitting down on the love seat.

“Maybe” he replies, as he smiles even more.

“Way to go, Romeo,” Rhodes says, slapping Peter gently on the back as he feels his cheeks warming up.

“Ah, young love” Tony comments, ruffling Peter hair as he hides his red face in a pillow.

Despite their relentless teasing, the smile on Peters' face doesn't falter. He helps to clean up after the party, packing away the games, empty drinking cups before thanking everyone for such an amazing birthday.

He climbs into bed around 1 am, the kiss replaying it over and over in his mind, for the first time in a long time, Peter had a restful and dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Put love out into the world <3
> 
> The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. - Helen Keller


	39. Chapter 39

Peter leaves for school Monday morning, Tony saying a quick goodbye to the kid as he runs out the door.

“You’ll be awesome,” Peter tells Tony, knowing that he is worried about meeting with Steve Rodgers today.

Tony showers and changes for the second time today, he is sweating profusely, his anxiety getting the best of him, as per usual. Tony runs his sweaty palms on his legs, before getting up to answer the door when Friday notifies him that Steve has arrived.

“Nice to see you Steve” Tony greets Steve formally. 

Tony gives a tight smile. shaking Steves outstretched hand, ignoring his heart hammering in his chest because the kids right he can do this. 

They walk into the Avengers suite, Tony takes a seat at the kitchen counter gesturing for Steve to do the same. He turns around and pours himself a coffee, asking if Steve would like anything to drink. 

“I’m fine for now, thank you Tony” Steve replies, a tense smile on his face.

Tony sits down and takes a deep breath before briefing Steve about what the new accords would mean for him and the others.

Steve nods as Tony goes through all the details, how each step was going to work, starting with them having a formal meeting with the governor to sign the accords with several people as a witness before they are to get official pardoned, which will only take a few days after to accords are signed. 

Steve looks a little disheartened when Tony says that the Avengers will still be working under the government eye, but relief washes over his concerned expression when Tony explains that it will only be for a short amount of time if they are needed for a particular mission.

“I appreciate all the hard work you have done to make this a possibly Tony,” Steve says, this time a genuine smile spreads across the soldiers face.

“I am hoping to fix things between the team” Tony explains truthfully. 

It really has been hard not having each other’s backs.

“I am sorry for what happened Tony, I thought I was protecting you from more pain by hiding the truth from you but now I see that I was selfishly protecting myself, which was wrong. I can only hope that if the others choose to sign, that it will be only the beginning of starting to make things up to you” Steve says sadly.

"I understand where you are coming from, but it would have been nice to know the truth about my parents,” Tony says. 

He sighs softly remembering after all those years the new information bought back the pain of losing his parents all over again.

“We all make mistakes, hell I know that more than anyone,” Tony says, forcing a laugh

“So let’s say you guys do choose to sign these new accords, I would love to start fresh. If you guys want to live here again your old rooms have not been touched” Tony proposes Steve, holding his hand out.

“You’re an honourable man Tony,” Steve says, firmly grasping Tony’s hand, shaking it in what Tony hoped was some form of agreement and the start of a new beginning. 

The two men sit in awkward silence for a few minutes, until Steve says that he should go and inform the others of the new information, saying he will report back in a few days with the team’s final answer.

The meeting went really well, it went a lot better than Tony was expecting but it still didn’t quell that turmoil in the back of his head that maybe he didn't do a good enough job, that the others were still not going to be happy and not sign the new accords.

Tony didn't know how much he could do for them in that were to be the case. He takes a few deep breaths as the anxiety of the unknown starts to become too much.

Tony heads over to the liquor cabinet and pours himself a glass of whiskey, he puts the glass to his nose and inhales deeply before he pours the liquor down the drain.

The liquor is a sure way to calm some of his nerves, but he has been trying to stop using drinking as a coping mechanism ever since the incident with Peter the last time Tony used booze as a way of coping, still feeling incredibly guilty over how things went down that night.

Instead Tony changes into his bathing suit, taking off his watch leaving it on his bedside table, heading out onto the deck to relax in the jacuzzi. Pepper joins him after her meeting, he holds her close as she starts to talk about her day, knowing it relaxes him when she tells him about her day. 

Peter had decathlon training after school and was hanging out tonight at Ned’s house after that, but he promised that he would be home before 8. 

Tony allowed it but told Peter to be home at no later than 9 worried that if Peter got home much later, that the kid would see a petty crime being committed and would feel like he had to help.

Usually Tony wouldn't mind, but with Peter going out more often on Patrol, Tony has insisted on more rigorous training, but things got out of hand when Peter got a little too excited in practice, slipped and landed poorly, spraining his wrist and breaking his nose.

Peter insisted that he was fine to go on patrol, but Tony told him that Queens would survive one night, just to make sure he had recovered fully.

Tony almost fell asleep in the hot tub, so he and Pepper quickly dried off and changed into some comfortable clothes to go watch a movie in the lounge room falling asleep in each other’s arms. 

After decathlon practice, Ned and Peter walked the short distance to the bus stop and caught the bus to Ned's house. Peter was only there for an hour when they heard gunshots nearby and a woman scream.

“Go, dude!” Ned said, his eyes wide with worry.

Peter gets into his Spider-Man suit biting his lip as he remembers what Tony said but he couldn't just let this happen. 

This woman needed him, and Peter doesn't think he would ever forgive himself if he let something happen, a shudder running through his body as he remembers the pain he felt when he couldn't save that poor man in the car crash.

Peter pushes the spider on his chest tightening the suit before jumping out the window. Peter hurries toward the sound of the women cries, he swings onto the scene which turns out to be a bank robbery.

“Hey guys, I know Mondays suck, but this is taking things a little far don’t you think?" Peter asks 

He moves quickly so he is standing in-between the bank teller and the gun pointed at her webbing him up. 

“Are you okay ma’am?” he asks the bank teller, she nods, as she gets further behind him. 

Peter webs up a woman who is pointing her gun at the second bank teller. He tells them both to leave and for one call the police they both nod as they edge closer to the door.

Thankfully, being a Monday there are only a few people being held hostage, Peter distracts the man holding up the four other people in building as those four people also escape the scene. 

Karen informs Peter that the police are ten minutes away, he webs the man and woman to each other before webbing up the weapons in the corner.

“Do you guys want to know the problem with neighbourhoods these days?” Peter asks another guy, webbing him to the wall. 

“There are more hoods than neighbours!” Peter answers, shaking his head sadly, webbing the guys gun up with the other arsenal.

The last woman tries to run out onto the streets to escape but he follows her. She starts to fire at Peter as she sees that he is following right behind her, trying to prevent her from escaping, he webs her up as he laughs dodging the final bullet she fires as it misses him easily. 

However, Peter is not so lucky as the bullet although missing Peter must have hit a weak point in his webbing because Peter feels the bullet hit his webbing, feeling it snap and he feels himself starting to fall. 

Peters laughter quickly turning into a shriek as he plummets downward. 

Peter quickly regains composure as he shoots a web to catch himself but to no avail, he was still too late. 

Peter hits the ground hard 

He felt something crack. 

Peter groans in pain trying to keep his breathing steady, a sharp pain shoots across his chest with every breath he takes.

He starts coughing as he takes another painful breath, crying out as the heaving coughs make even more pain shoot through his entire chest. He tries to sit up. 

“Peter?” Karen calls

“Karen?” he replies. 

Was she trying to get his attention this whole time he wonders

“I advise against moving Peter, you have three broken ribs and a moderate concussion, I am contacting Tony Stark” Peter lets himself fall back onto the pavement as he takes a sharp intake of breath at the sudden movement.

I am so screwed Peter thinks miserably.

“Spider-Man?” A familiar sounding voice says as Peter sees a blurry figure leaning over him.

Peter blinks away the blurriness and Captain America comes into focus.

“Oh my god, It’s Captain America, hiiii Cap,” Peter says, his voice sounds really weird in his ears.

Peter is all of a sudden exhausted and the only thing he wants to do right now is sleep so he lets his eyes slip closed. 

“Stay awake Spider-Man,” Captain America says. 

Peter groans because Steve is a little too loud for Peters liking as he hears Captain America typing out a message on his phone. 

“Open your eyes Spider-Man, you can't fall asleep, I think you might have a concussion” Captain America says, very lightly tapping Peters' face. 

Peter tries to tell Captain America that he is right and that he does have a concussion (a level 2 according to Karen) but he doesn't feel so good all of a sudden.

Peter quickly pulls up his mask just over his mouth as he knows what’s coming next. Peter just pulls the mask up in time to vomit all over the sidewalk.

“You definitely have a concussion” Captain America informs Peter, as nausea brings up another wave of vomit.

Peter hisses in pain as Captain America helps him to his feet, as he tries to focus on breathing, not how much every breath hurt, his legs feel like jelly and he feels like he has no coordination at all as Peter slowly stumbles toward where ever Captain America is taking him.

An arm wraps gently around Peters' waist and he looks up again to see Captain America helping him walk, but there two of him now. 

“woah” Peter slurs

“I didn't know Captain America was a twin” he mumbles.

“How hard did you hit your head? what do you remember?” Captain America asks as he and his twin look at Peter with the same look of concern. 

“I fell” Peter answers

“Okay good,” Cap says as Peter blinks hard, making Captains twin disappear.

He hears a car pull up and Captain America moves Peter towards the car, Captain America is saying something to him, but he can't hear him over the ringing in his ears.

Peter lets his eye slip closed again as the lights start to hurt his eyes, he is just so tired. Peter is laid down in the back of a car his head placed on someone’s lap. 

“Eyes open” Peter hears a different voice say.

Opening his eyes to see who that voice belongs to see Hawkeye. 

“Hey man you shoot arrows really good,” Peter tells him

“He definitely has a concussion, and maybe a few broken ribs,” Hawkeye says.

Peter really does try to fight, but his eyes slip closed again. 

“Stay awake for 5 more minutes, we are almost there” Peter hears Captain America say

“'m tired” Peter mumbles in response.

“shit how old is this guy?” he hears Hawkeye asks. 

Peter is too focused on staying awake to hear Captains reply, his eyes slip closed again as his head begins to pound, his chest still aches every time he takes a breath but he’s too tired to vocalize the pain he’s feeling.

“Spider-Man” Peter hears Hawkeye calling, but his voice sounds real far away. 

Peter feels his body go limp 

He loses the battle against sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No one is you and that is your superpower.  
> You and the only you in the universe, that is insanely special.


	40. Chapter 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy oh boy has today been a week and a half XD I hope your weeks were wonderful

Pepper had another meeting to go to, so he wakes up alone to the sound of Fridays voice telling him that Steve has come back.

Tony is slightly confused as he remembers Steve told him that he would back in two days, did they forget to discuss something? But when Friday informs him that Clint is with him, Tony wonders if they had already thought about the situation and made their decision.

However, when Friday tells him Steve has Peter, Tony’s slight concern goes into a full-blown panic.

He goes running to meet them, but Steve comes in and it's worse much worse, Steve is holding a familiar Red and Blue superhero in his arms. Tony runs over to Peter, screaming for Bruce to get down to the med bay and that it’s an emergency.

“Kid!?” he says in a panic 

“Hey kiddo,” Tony says gently, as the eyes on Peters suit flicker open at the sound of Tony’s voice.

“Stay awake for me buddy,” he tells Peter. 

He smiles as his eyes meet Peters which were fluttering closed open a little wider as Peter looks in Tony’s direction. 

“Tony?” Peter mumbles

“Where am I?” Pete asks.

He’s confused, shit he must have a concussion, Tony thinks, panicking, as he rushes down to the med bay, Steve and Clint following closely behind.

“What the hell happened!?” he turns on Steve as he puts Peter down on one of the beds. 

“Hey, don't blame Steve for anything,” Clint says defensively.

"I’m not blaming anyone for shit, I’m asking what the fuck happened to my kid,” Tony asks again, his patience wearing thin. 

Tony is angry at himself for forgetting to put his watch on again, which would have not only sent him an alert that Peter got injured, but also when he put on the damn suit.

Tony is also angry at Peter for disobeying him. Funnily enough for the first time in two years, Steve is the last person Tony is mad at right now. 

“I just saw him fall, I went to see if he was okay and he wasn’t, I know you know him because he was on your side in Germany, I didn’t know who else to bring him too because a normal hospital wouldn't do,” Steve says quietly. 

Tony assumes he is keeping his voice down as he has probably concluded a concussion himself. 

Tony takes a deep breath to calm himself down as he turns from Steve to look at Peter. Tony very gently lift Peters mask over his mouth and nose, so the oxygen mask can have easier access.

“Tony?” Peter asks, blinking slowly up at Tony.

He can hear a small amount of panic in the kid’s voice as Peter starts to come to analyzing the situation.

“You’re okay” Tony soothes Peter as Bruce hooks him up to machines to do a full-body scan.

“He has a level 2 concussion and three broken ribs, two on the left one on the right” Bruce informs the room pointing to the X-rays. 

“t’ny?” Peter mumbles

“Yeah, kiddo?” Tony says, looking down at Peter

“Tired” he responds.

Tony looks at Bruce who nods, now that Peter is being closely monitored it’s okay for him to go to sleep.

“You can go to sleep, we just have to wake you every two hours,” He tells Peter.

"M’kay” Peter mumbles sleepily before he is fast asleep. 

Once, Tony, has triple checked Peter is stable and breathing on his own his racing heart steadies as it dampens his panic just a little. 

“Thank you,” Tony says to Steve and Clint shaking their hands. 

Tony doesn't want to leave Peter, but Bruce says that it is best to have the room as dark and quiet as possible as he heals. Tony reluctantly leaves the room but checks Peters vitals on his watch consistently. 

Steve suggests that while Clint is here he may as well hear first-hand what is going on with the Accords to not only give Clint more time to think it over but to also help Steve explain the situation to the others. 

Two hours quickly pass as they talk everything over with Clint and Steve who both insist on coming with Tony to see how Peter is. 

“This has earned you some serious brownie points,” he tells Steve and Clint. 

both men look at Tony in confusion, that is until he walks over to Peter and gently wakes him up. Peter sits up taking off the oxygen mask, his Spiderman mask slipping off with it. 

Peter winces slightly as the movement jostle his healing ribs. Steve and Clint’s faces both pale as they see just how young the face is underneath the mask.

They both weigh up the situation and wisely choose to stay quiet for the time being.

“Shit,” Peter says, as he adjusts himself on the bed flinching. 

“I’m going to allow that because you’re hurt,” Tony tells the young boy, who looks at Tony with panic in his eyes. 

“Yes,” Tony answers Peters nonexistent question. 

“You are in very big trouble,” Tony tells Peter causing him to swallow loudly.

“Let’s just focus on getting you better, before I ground your ass into next week,” Tony says, trying to keep his anger to a minimum.

Peter bites his lip and nods his eyes widening as he takes in the people behind Tony and the mask in his hand.

Bruce asks Peter to tell him exactly what happened, not only to test the kid’s memory but to also make sure he knows how to treat Peter properly, turns out the kid fell 15 stories resulting in the concussion and the broken ribs he is now sporting.

Peters breathing is uneven, and a thin sheen of sweat is covering his forehead, Tony glances at the others, not caring what they are going to make of the situation before he moves over to Peter starting to slowly run his fingers through Peters soft curls, knowing Peter needs the comfort right now.

There is a small smile on Steve's face and an understanding look from Clint before Tony focuses all his attention on Peter. 

Bruce comes in a few minutes later and gives Peter some of his pain medication and 15 minutes later Peters breathing evens out as the drugs dulled the pain of his healing ribs.

Peter was hooked up to an IV, so he could get some fluids, Bruce not wanted to risk giving Peter water to drink just yet because the concussion was fairly severe, and he didn't want Peter vomiting and choking in his sleep Peter was out 5 minutes later.

“Are we going to talk about how Spider-Man is a literal child!?” Clint says sounding upset. 

“I knew he was young, but I was hoping for at least 20,” Steve says, looking worried.

“He can’t be any older than Cooper,” Clint says immediately thinking about his son.

“Anything you want to know will have to come from him,” Tony says, nodding toward Peters sleeping form. 

He is still going to let the kid call the shots, not wanting to go against the kid's wishes of keeping the secret identity a secret which was getting harder day by day.

“Do you mind if we wait?” Steve says.

“I won’t be able to stop my mind from racing otherwise” He continues. 

Clint nods in silent agreement looking at Peter no doubt thinking about his own children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The best time for new beginnings is now


	41. Chapter 41

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony is using his Dad voice in this chapter XD 
> 
> Peter broke the rules and he's in trroouubblleee 
> 
> Iron Dad front and Centre XD

Tony wakes Peter up another 2 hours later his concussion completely gone his ribs healing little by little.

“I’m sorry,” Peter says, sitting up and looking at Tony. 

“Why didn't you listen to me?, I told you that you weren't allowed go on patrol today” Tony scolds Peter sternly. 

“I’m really sorry” Peter repeats. 

“Sorry isn't good enough, you’re grounded,” Tony tells Peter.

“Both literally and figuratively, you aren’t allowed to use electronics or go out as Spider-Man for two days, you are to go from home to school and vice versa no pit stops or anything” Tony continues, telling Peter his punishment. 

“That’s not fair,” Peter says scowling.

“Three days” Tony replies, Peter crosses his arms angrily opening his mouth to argue. 

“Want to make it four days?” Tony asks, looking him in the eye letting Peter know just how serious he is.

Peter must have gotten the message as he snaps his mouth shut.

“Hold on one-second son,” Steve says, Peters angry eyes shifting to look at Steve.

“You’re the one the made the call aren't you?” Steve asks, Peter nods meekly his face heating up all anger gone.

“Thank you….?” Steve says as if he is asking Peters name

“Peter” 

“Peter Parker”.

“Thank you, Peter,” Steve says, holding his hand out to shake Peters

“If you don’t mind me asking, just how old are you?” Steve asks a worried look shadows his face for a brief second.

“I’m 16” Peter responds, after a few seconds of silence

“16!” Steve yells loudly.

“16 years old Tony” Steve repeats softly, anger in his eyes.

“Tony, you bought a child into war” Steve continues.

Tony goes to open his mouth closing it again at Steve continues his rant starting to pace the room. 

“I dropped an Airplane Boarding Bridge on a child,” Steve says, looking upset. 

“I caught it” Peter grumbles, sulking over the fact that he was grounded.

“A child,” Steve says again, putting a hand over his mouth closing his eyes.

“Mr Stark helped me, he gave a suit that protected me and all kinds of stuff, he even sent me home when your tiny, giant friend knocked me out the sky, he told me to go home and that I had done enough,” Peter says, looking at Steve.

Tony is thankful for Peter standing up for him even though Peter is angry with him right now. Tony can tell Peter is nervous standing up to one of his heroes, because not only can Tony feel the nervous energy radiating from the kid, but his wavering voice deemed him Mr Stark, which he only does when he is extremely nervous.

“Listen, son,” Steve says, going to argue with Peter. 

“No, he is a really good guy okay, he has helped me so much over these past few years, I would be dead if it wasn't for him,” Peter says. 

“This is my choice, he did try to take the suit away but that didn't stop me, I was Spider-Man before Tony gave me a better suit, I was still Spider-Man when he took the suit away,” Peter says.

Steve sighs giving up. 

“From what the kids saying you did the right thing, Tony, I’ll agree to disagree about Germany but if we agree to the accords all that’s behind us right?” Steve says, holding out his hand.

“Right” Tony confirms. 

He firmly grips Steve’s hand and shakes it before he leaves with Clint (who hadn't said a single word after Peter had revealed his age) for the second time that day.  
  
Peter has to admit although he was a little bit angry at being grounded, he can’t say he didn't deserve it.

He hadn't listened to Tony (again) and gotten injured (AGAIN).

Peter is starting to think that he should stop being so stubborn and listen to Tony because every time he disobeys Tony Stark he almost dies or gets seriously injured.

“Dude, he grounded you?” Ned says, looking at Peter wide-eyed explaining why he couldn't go his house this afternoon.

“Who’s grounded?” Flash says, walking up and sitting at their table.

“Mr Stark grounded Peter because he “went out” when he wasn't supposed to,” Ned tells flash who started to laugh.

“Man to think I didn't believe you when you said you worked for the guy, now he's grounding you,” Flash says, laughing as Peter scowls at his friend.  
  
“Boys,” MJ says, sitting down and smiling. 

Neither of them had talked about the kiss, because well they didn't want to do it a school in front of their other friends.

Peter couldn't text her either because he wasn't allowed to use his phone or laptop except for school use. So, they had to stick with the annoying teen movie cliché of looking at each other when no one else was watching.

“When are you not grounded?” MJ asks, taking a bite of a meatball. 

“Thursday, so tomorrow,” Peter tells her. 

“Good you'll make it to the meeting,” she says, as she quickly slides something under his tray.

Peter unfolds the note ‘want to go out for dinner Friday night?’ it reads. Peters' heart starts to flutter as he looks up at her, nodding a smile flashes across her face.  
  
He's going to be a nervous wreck by the end of today, because now he has to worry about his date with MJ (which being on Friday definitely gave me more than enough time to overthink things) but the Ex Avengers sent out a message last night, that they had decided and would be at the tower sometime in the afternoon.  
  
School finishes and Peter grabs his bag, saying a quick goodbye to his friends before he runs around the corner, jumping into Happy’s car (Tony has also banned him from driving while he's grounded insisting on Happy picking him up to make sure Peter doesn't stop anywhere on the way home).

“Hey Happy,” Peter says, getting in. 

“are umm are they there yet?” he asks Happy nervously. 

“They still hadn't arrived when I left but that was a half-hour ago and we need to make the same drive back, so they just might be when we get there,” Happy says, as Peter starts to fidget.

“How is Tony doing? because I’m feeling a little nervous, and I mean I can only guess how nervous he still feeling because they were totally friends before and now they have to go through all this stuff and I just” Peter starts to speak. 

“you're rambling kid,” Happy says. 

Peter bites his lip Happy has been trying to help get Peters nervous rambling under control because he really wants to go on another mission with the Avengers, which they haven't let him do because they said his talking almost blew their cover.

“Right sorry, sorry,” Peter says, as he begins to pick at a loose thread on his hoodie. 

“Tony was doing alright, a little nervous but everyone is going to be there which I think is helping” Happy replies. 

“Okay good,” Peter says, relaxing just a little knowing that Tony isn't completely freaking out.

Happy pulls up outside a black car is parked out front. 

“looks like they are here,” Happy says as they get out the car.  
  
Peter gulps nervously, swinging his bag around his shoulders as he and Happy heads inside. Peter glances up at Happy, who is looking straight forward as they walk into the elevator, Happy gets out first, Peter takes a deep breath following after.

Happy shakes everyone’s hand greeting them politely before everyone turns to look at Peter as he enters the room. Peter suddenly feels very self-conscious and out of place wearing his faded jeans and a daggy old hoodie over his Star Wars shirt.

“Ummm hi,” he says, looking around the room.

“Who’s the kid Stark?” Sam asks, getting up to shake Peters hand who looks at Tony, who nods they must have signed the accords. 

Which means if they have chosen to stay here then they have to know the truth about who he is so Peter doesn't have to go back into hiding in his own home.  
  
Peters anxiety doubles as it dwells on him that he has to tell these people his secret identity. Peter gives Tony one more look, so he comes over and puts a hand on Peters' shoulder. 

“They have signed Pete and they all want to stay here, even Clint is staying for a little while, things have to settle down and be arranged before he goes back home” Tony informs him.

“Umm hi everyone,” Peter says giving a small wave “I’m uh.....I’m ummm Peter-Man” he stutters nervously.

Peter takes a deep breath before he tries again, focusing on Tony's hand as he gives his shoulder another encouraging squeeze.

“My name is Peter Parker and I am Spider-Man,” Peter says confidently. 

The Avengers come up to him one by one as they greet him and shake his hand, Peter tries to not let his nerves and excitement get the best of him not wanting to say something dumb, but he doesn't do very well.

He manages to shake Sams hand telling him it’s nice to meet him no problems, but then Bucky shakes his hand. 

“Nice to meet you, Mr Barnes,” Peter says, holding out his hand. 

Bucky shakes it with his mental arm and Peter can’t stop the words that come out his mouth. 

“I really do think your mental arm is awesome,” Peter tells Bucky, who laughs. 

“Thanks, no need for formalities please call me Bucky ” he chuckles. 

Peter meets Wanda and Scott who also insist that Peter call them by their first names.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life's most persistent and urgent question is, '"What are you doing for others?" - Martin Luther King, Jr.


	42. Chapter 42

“Wait, hold up,” Sam says, getting up. 

“You're only hypothetically Spider-Man” Sam finishes, looking at Peter 

“Well um technically yeah,” Peter says nervously, pulling a loose thread on his hoodie

“But Spider-boy or Spider-Kid or whatever doesn't sound very intimidating, but it’s also dumb because then I would have to change my superhero name to Spider-Man in like two years,” Peter says, slowly building confidence.

“Sorry, Peter but Spider-Man doesn't sound awful intimidating either” Clint speaks up. 

“Hey I can be intimidating,” Peter says narrowing his eyes 

“You are very cute” Wanda speaks, as she makes her way to Peter, smiling kindly, ruffling his hair.

“I got my ass kicked by a 14-year-old,” Sam says, huffing unhappily

“You learned not to talk so much during fights kid?” Sam asks laughing, punching the kid lightly on the shoulder.

“I’m uh getting there? I think?” Peter replies hesitantly. 

Looking around at the others who have gone strangely quiet all of a sudden.  
  
They sit and talk for a little while before Scott speaks up. 

“Hey kid, want to see a magic trick?” he asks, leaning over to Peter who nods enthusiastically.

Peter watches Scott do all sort of card tricks in amazement before asking Scott to teach him.

“I should probably go do my homework,” Peter says. 

He has finally given up on asking how Scott did that trick after Scott insisted that a magician never reveals his secrets.

“What do you do in school?” Clint asks curiously

“Ummm Chemistry, Physics, Spanish are my chosen subjects and then there are classes that I have to do like English, Math and PE,” Peter tells them.

“He is in advance placement in all his classes except PE because the kid has an identity to keep secret” Tony tells them proudly. 

Peters' face heats up at Tony’s boasting.  
  
“Smart kid,” Steve says 

“He can keep up with Tony and I in the lab and workshop too, we love having him down there” Bruce chips in. 

A smile on his face as he talks about Peter because Tony knows how much he enjoys spending quality time with Him and Peter in the lab, he has even officially made Peter an honorary science bro which Peter was ecstatic about, to say the least.

Peter whose face is now even redder after Bruce’s compliment goes to the fridge and grabs a few slices of pizza and an apple before he goes to head to his room.  
  
“Why does everyone like cold pizza?” Steve asks suddenly, as Peter takes a bite from his pizza.

“Cold pizza is just as good,” Clint says

“Don’t knock it till you try it caps-icicle” Tony interjects.

“I’m just saying a hot lunch is better,” Steve says, sighing they all turn to Peter who chokes on his pizza because he is trying not to laugh.

“Did I miss something?” Steve says 

“I’m not the only one confused right?” Tony asks. 

Tony just assumes it’s some kind of accidental reference to one of those memes or vines Peter is always on about.

“No, no,” Peter says, biting his lip

“Spit it out kid” Tony insists

“I’ll tell the Avengers your grounded” Tony jokingly threatens as he walks up to the teen whispering quietly.

Peter swallows his mouth full of pizza before looking up at Tony. 

“It's um just videos they make us watch at school” Peter explains 

“Videos?” Sam says confused.

Peter clears his throat.......

“Hi, I’m Captain America,” Peter says, speaking in a deep voice 

“Whether you’re a student or a soldier, there’s one thing that will always give you an edge, a hot lunch” Peter speaks continuing his Captain America impression. 

“I forgot I filmed those” Steve says quietly, as everyone else is crying with laughter.  
  
“I got a mission for you kid,” Bucky says

“Get those videos for us, we have to see them,” Bucky says, wiping the tears from his eyes patting Steve on the back.

“They're on YouTube” Peter answers

“Okay, Spiderling I think it’s time you went and did your homework” Tony reminds him.

“But I have so many questions,” Peter whines

“You can ask us all the questions you want after your homework,” Steve says. 

Peter nods and runs up to his room to get a start on his homework.

“You’re going to regret that” Happy speaks up for the first time since he's arrived.

“I love the kid, but he will drown you in questions” agrees Rhodes.

They all eat dinner together and he’s not going to lie the tension in the room was quite high but having Peter in the room calmed Tony nerves.

One of the first things Tony found out about Peter is that he is good at distracting people, not on purpose, but if someone has had a tough day Peter talks about random things like a cool dog he saw on the way home from school and small things like that, it distracts them, calming and distracts their busy mind for a few minutes.  
  
A particular favourite example of Tony’s is the time Peter told him why he thinks spaces is so cool after Tony had a particularly bad anxiety attack. 

“I don't know why I guess I just find comfort in knowing that there is so much more than us out there. It’s comforting to know that we are just a small part of a massive universe because it makes our problems seem even smaller” Peter told Tony, as they gazed up at the stars.

Right now, Peter isn't giving anyone a chance to think between his rapid-fire questions.

“What are your powers? your glowing red hands looked really awesome but a little eerie” Peter asks Wanda as she explains how she got her powers and what they are.  
  
Peter asks all sorts of questions to all the new people he is meeting for the first time. He is talking so much that Tony is surprised that he is on his second plate of food.

“How do you go really big and small?” Peter asks Scott, who is the last person to undergo Peters questionnaire.

Peter nods as Scott tells him how his suit works, asking a couple follow up questions as Scott explains the different mechanics in his suit.  
  
“What about you kid? do your powers come from you suit” Scott asks, turning the tables on Peter.

“Nope that’s all me,” Peter says smiling as he eats a few more mouthfuls of food.

“You got your powers from a radioactive spider, I thought I’d heard it all, didn’t that hurt?” Bucky says looking shocked. 

“Like hell, I thought I was dying” Peter answer and Tony winces.

“Seriously though, you never answered this question the first time we met, does that stuff come out of you or not?” Sam asks Peter. 

“Nope!, it’s synthetic!, I make it!” says Peter smiling. 

“I think that would be kind of gross, to be honest” Peter scrunches up his nose at the thought of organic webbing coming out of his wrists.

“Are you venomous”? Sam asks

“I don’t know, I don’t exactly go around biting people” Peter replies and everyone snickers

“Oh my gosh, that sounded really rude Mr Wilson,” Peter says in a hurry 

“yeah no, no, I don’t think so” Peter rephrases his answer blushing.

“I hope I don't need to keep reminding to you call me Sam,” Sam says, brushing off Peters worry assuming that Peter meant no offence with his answer.

“So, we've told all about us, give us the breakdown on your powers,” Clint asks Peter, eating some garlic bread.  
  
“Spidey sense?” Clint repeats when Peter has finished giving them a rundown of his abilities.

“Yeah kind of like a sixth sense, I can tell when bad things a going to happen, it helps me dodge projectiles easily” Peter explains. 

Tony sees Sam out the corner of his eye pick up a piece of garlic bread and aim it toward Peter. He rolls eyes smirking when Peter catches it without looking and shoves it in his mouth flashing a grin at Sam.

“That’s pretty impressive, Clint’s the guy that never misses and the kid's spider-sense warns him I wonder what would happen if,” Sam asks, and Tony feels the anger bubble up inside him cutting Sam off

“Clint is not using Peter as target practice,” he says angrily.

“It was a joke, I’m sorry,” Sam says, holding his hands up defensively 

“It’s okay Dad it was a joke” Peter assures Tony.  
  
“Dad?” Steve says, raising an eyebrow at him. 

“I did hear the kid say Dad on the phone when he called,” Clint says victoriously.

“I uhm I’m Sorry,” Peter says, getting up from the table and quickly walking to his room.

Tony goes to stop him, but he is out of the room before Tony can get a word out.

“You didn't seem phased, how often does that happen?” Steve asks as Tony sits down at the table sighing. 

“That’s the fourth time, I honestly don't mind him calling me that,” Tony tells them. 

Honestly if Tony was being completely honest he would tell them that he actually loves it when the kid calls him Dad.

It warms him from the inside out, but Peter seems so embarrassed when he does it that Tony’s mind has convinced him that it's just an honest slip-up and that Peter may not mean it.

Tony wants to talk to the kid about it, but he has never been good about talking about feelings so much so that he chooses to drink rather than talk to another human being about his problems.

“His situation is complicated, but the short version is that I’m his legal guardian” Tony finishes, telling them not wanting to share the kid’s life story with the people he has just met

So, Tony briefly tells them about how May asked him to be his guardian if anything were to happen to her, she got Tony to sign the papers after they had that long chat about him that afternoon while Peter was at school.

When she first asked Tony, he was scared shitless, he couldn’t, didn’t deserve to look after a kid.

Tony could barely look after himself let alone be responsible for another life.

Tony almost said no, but as he looked into the pleading eyes of May Parker he couldn't bring himself to utter anything but 

“Yes, of course, I would be honoured”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep your head up  
> Everything will be okay  
> Take it day by day and the sun will shine on you once again


	43. Chapter 43

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not okay with this recent development with Spider-Mans fate in the MCU but we will get through this together. At least my boy still gets another two movies I just wish it was still in partnership with the MCU they had so much planned and now it's not going to happen :( It's fine I'm not crying.....

Peter runs to his room and closes the door before he throws himself on his bed burying his face in his pillows. 

He can hear the others talking about him in the other room, he curses his enhanced hearing as he buries his face deeper into his pillows, putting on the noise-cancelling headphones on Rhodes got him for his birthday. 

It’s been a decade since he’s called someone Dad, being so young he has no memories of those times; the only memories are in photos and videos, which Peter looks at from time to time.  
  
The word sounds so foreign on his lips, but he likes it, which scares him because he doesn't know if Tony does. 

The older man has told Peter himself that he should never be allowed to raise children, Peter took that as he never wanted to be a Dad, sometimes Peter lies awake at night wondering why. 

He is an amazing guy, Peter has looked up to him ever since he was little, that might have been a factor to why Peter saw Tony as a father figure the moment turned he had turned up in Peters life. 

Maybe it was the fact that he had only lost Uncle Ben a few months prior but Peter honestly thinks it’s because even though Tony tried to pretend he didn't, Peter could tell that he cared about him right from the word go. 

Making Peter give Happy nightly updates and reports, checking on him and May himself once a week. Peter had to admit that putting a tracker on his suit did feel like a little bit of an evasion of privacy at first, which is one of the reasons he took it off but after it saved his life a fair few times the tracker made Peter feel just that little bit safer.  
  
Peter will take this secret to the grave with him not even Ned knows about this, but Peter has two reasons for the mask, the first and most important one obviously is to protect his identity, he wants to be Peter Parker. 

As lame as everyone else thinks he is he just gets to be a normal kid, hang out with his friends, go out and do stuff without people knowing and caring who he is. 

Keeping his identity a secret not only allows Peter to do everyday stuff which he doesn't want to give up (Peter sees the way Tony lives his life, having cameras and people follow him everywhere is not Peters idea of a good time) but it also protects his friends. 

If the bad guys knew who Peter was then they would use the people he loves as a sick advantage to get to him, but the second reason is so his enemies can’t see when he’s afraid.  
  
Peter falls asleep late his thoughts keeping him awake until 3 in the morning Peter wakes up from a nightmare at 5:30 am, sighing as he gets out of bed not even bothering to try and get more sleep because he has to get up and get ready for school at 7 anyways.

Peter walks into the kitchen to get himself a glass of water. 

“Friday, is Tony awake?” Peter asks 

“Yes, Peter he is sitting at the kitchen table in his suite” She replies.

Peter grabs his glass of water and heads down to Tony and Peppers Apartment. Peter enters the room and sees Tony sitting down drinking a coffee scrolling through his phone. He sits down next to him smiling. 

“Long night?” Peter asks Tony. 

“long day, haven't managed to sleep” Tony replies.

“You’re drinking coffee” Peter points out 

“You got me there” Tony replies 

“Nightmare?” he asks, looking at Peter putting an arm around his shoulder when Peter nods. 

“Want to talk about it,” He asks, rubbing Peters back soothingly.

“Just the building collapsing again” Peter sighs, getting sick of the same nightmares he just wants to sleep

“what about you? what’s on your mind?” Peter looks at Tony. 

“This whole situation is just stressful kiddo, we both had a strong point in the argument, we both had wrong points, we have all made mistakes, I’m trying to forgive and forget but that seems to be the hardest thing to do at the moment, I think the others feel the same, you can literally feel the tension in the air when we are all in the same room” Tony says. 

Peter nod listening, he’s also noticed the tension between the adults.  
“what about team-building exercises?” suggests Peter. 

“That actually might be something to look into kiddo, good thinking,” Tony says smiling at Peter. 

“Umm hey Tony, could I go out Friday night?” Peter asks

“Sure, you stopped being grounded as of” Tony stops, checking his watch

“6 six hours ago” he finishes.

“Thank you” Peter responds 

and here comes the inevitable question 

“where are you going?” Tony asks

“Going out to dinner with MJ” Peter quickly spits out.

Tony whistles

“date night huh,” He says elbowing Peter

“Yeah, I’m already nervous” he admits

“you’ll be great, just be yourself,” Tony says, giving Peter just about the worst advice on planet earth.

“No one wants that, even Ned said,” Peter tells Tony truthfully. 

“Well you and Ned are both wrong because clearly, MJ wants that,” he says, grinning at the younger boy who is now bright red.

Peter is so embarrassed that he just gets up and leaves

“I’m going to go get ready for school now” he mutters under his breath as Tony laughs. 

The school day is fine because he's used to going to school on little to no sleep, but then he remembers they also have decathlon practise after school.

Peter makes it through an hour and a half answering all the questions aimed at him correctly but ten minutes later he feels a soft kick as he jolts upright having nearly fallen asleep. 

Peter looks over to see Flash nodding his head toward MJ who sighs, giving him a sympathetic yet annoyed look before repeating the question. 

“Peter, according to the modern synthesis, a change in allele frequencies in a population is called what?” MJ asks

“Evolution” Peter answers, stifling a yawn.

“Can’t we go home? we didn't even have the halftime break we have been cramming for almost 2 hours straight, even Peter is falling asleep” Charles complains.

“Yeah okay” MJ sighs

Peter knows she has been stressed about this lately. She probably totally forgot about the break because she doesn't want to let anyone down and wants to succeed as her first time as captain.

“You okay dude?” Flash asks as everyone leaves.

“Yeah, just didn't sleep well last night,” Peter tells Flash as they help MJ pack up. 

“Spider-Man stuff?” Ned asks

“Sort of” he replies

He wasn't lying the nightmare was because of Spiderman but his mind was also ticking because of everything happening at home. 

They both nod dropping the subject, continuing to help MJ pack up.  
  
Peter was researching team-building exercises during lunch, when he could during class and when Peter found some that might work he wrote it down making sure to give it to Tony when he gets home.

Peter walked the few blocks away from the school, getting into his car and driving home because the fewer people that see him in this car the better. 

It’s not that Peter embarrassed to drive the car, it’s quite the opposite a car, almost like this is a way to nice for Peter Parker to drive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing can dim the light that shines from within - Maya Angelou


	44. Chapter 44

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late upload guys! I had three assignments due three days in a row XD but I'm back! and I will upload as normal :)

Peter comes home from school and the poor kid looks pretty beat as he grabs a bottle of water and some food from the fridge.

“Long day?” Tony asks, walking over to Peter 

“Yeah, but I’m excited to see if these work,” Peter says getting a piece of paper out his bag and handing it to Tony. 

Tony takes it, reading it overseeing that it is a page full of team-building exercises and how to perform each one.

“So am I” Tony answers. 

Tony is hopeful that these will work, trying for once in his life to not be so pessimistic. Tony told everyone at breakfast what Peter has told him about the team-building exercises, everyone agreed that it was worth a shot and a pretty fun way of doing things.

Tony let Peter be in charge because it was his idea and it’s the kids’ goal in life to make everyone as happy as possible.

“Okay ready?” Peter asks, his voice wavering a little.

Everyone nods and Peters confidence pick up a few notches 

“Okay um this one is called marshmallow spaghetti tower,” Peter says. 

He smiles putting uncooked spaghetti, a roll of tape string and a marshmallow on the two tables. 

"First, you guys have to pull names out of a hat to see who you are working with," Peter says. 

Tony is working with Clint, Nat, Wanda, Sam and Vision. The other team consists of Steve, Scott, Bucky, Peter, Bruce and Rhodes.

“Okay whoever can build the tallest tower wins,” Peters explains 

“But the marshmallow has to be on the very top and completely intact, you have 5 minutes to plan, 3 minutes to build and once the 3 minutes of building time is up you have to step away and can’t support your tower in any way,” Peter says explaining the rules. 

They all nod as Peter starts the timer and they all get to work, there are a few small arguments from both teams as they disagree about who's plan was better within the separate groups, but they soon compromise when Nat points out that if they use the positive aspects from both plans they could build a stronger foundation.

There is no disagreement at all from either team while they build all, focusing on getting the job done and that makes Tony smile a little as it means this actually might be working. Tony’s team win round one and they all high five as they go onto the next game.

The games are fun, but they get harder and harder as they go along as they become more about trust and really working together as one. The teams change every time so everyone gets a chance to work with everyone and get along. 

The last game they are split into groups of two. One person is blindfolded, the person who isn't blindfolded leads them through a course which just their voice. 

Steve and Tony are paired up together and they work pretty well as a team just like they used too. After all the games are finished Clint suggests that they do that at least once a year and the other agree wholeheartedly. 

The heroes all flop down around the kitchen table feeling pretty tired, they have been playing these team-building exercises for two hours and its now 6:00 pm. 

“How does pizza sound for tea?” Tony asks the group, everyone nods and says pizza is fine by them.

“Where’s Peter?” he asks, looking around everyone shrugs and looks around 

“on the couch,” Clint says pointing at Peter who is fast asleep. 

He nods letting Peter sleep remembering how tired the poor kid looked after school. 

They split going off, doing their own thing until the pizza arrives at 7:30 Wanda and Tony are the only ones left in the kitchen, so he strikes up a small conversation with her, they are talking pretty easily back and forth, conversation flowing easier which each passing moment. 

Then Peter starts to move on the couch. 

“Hello?” Peter mumbles,

“Hey, kiddo” Tony replies. 

Thinking that Peter has woken up, but Peter shifts some more and continues to mumble. 

“Please, I’m stuck,” Peter says, as his breathing becomes uneven.

“what’s wrong?” Wanda says, getting up and following behind Tony.

“He’s having a nightmare, the kid almost got crushed to death by a building now he has post-traumatic nightmares,” he tells her. 

Tony looks at Peter asleep on the couch feeling torn, not wanting to wake Peter up because the kid needs sleep, but not wanting to leave him in this state of panic.

“Can I?” Wanda asks, raising her hands

“I can try to give him a dream that he will enjoy, what does he like?” she asks. 

“Anything with Star War, space, Science” Tony tells her. 

She nods as her fingertips slowly start to glow red, she places them on Peters temples. Peter automatically relaxes, his breath evening out and the tension in his body melts away as he falls into a deeper sleep.

“Thank you”, Tony expresses his gratitude, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. 

“I’m going to make myself a coffee, would you like anything?” he asks her. 

“A coffee would be wonderful thank you” she replies

“what are you doing Wanda,” Steve asks, as he and Sam enter the room.

“Helping Peter sleep” Tony answers for her. 

He smiles handing Wanda her coffee, she takes it with one hand the other stays on Peters' head.

“Coffee?” he asks, sipping his own

“Don’t mind if I do” Sam says, pouring himself a cup and sitting down.

“Kid gets nightmares?” Sam eventually asks. 

“Post-trauma nightmares, the kid had a damn building fall on him and it’s pretty much my fault” Tony sighs

“How exactly?” Steve asks, sitting the other side of Sam drinking his coffee.

“Remember when the kid told you that I tried to stop him from being spider-man by taking the suit I made for him away?” Steve nods, so he keeps talking.

“Well like the kid said himself he was spider-man before I gave him my suit, the kid was wearing a stupid onesie that he was fighting crime in” Sam snorts at that, surely imagining Peter swing around New York in a spider-themed onesie.

“Well the kid went after this guy in his homemade suit, the guy took the out the supports of a building out and it fell on top of him” Tony sighs again. 

“I fail to see how this is your fault, Tony,” Steve says, frowning

“If I hadn't taken the suit away it would have alerted me that he was hurt, I should have known he wouldn't listen” he explains to Steve.

“How did he get out?” Sam asks, 

“He lifted the rubble off him and got out” Tony explains,

“It's not your fault Tony,” Steve says, clapping a hand on Tony’s shoulder 

“He lifted a building? how strong is he?” Sam repeats, sounding impressed. 

“Ummm I have only tested it once, he started to struggle around 50 ton, I didn't want to push him” Tony answers

“ spiders can lift to 50X their weight,” Bruce says, walking into the room. 

“I’d like to see you and the kid verse each other in an arm-wrestling match,” Sam says grinning, nudging Steve.

“I think I’d like to see them too” Tony agrees. 

Tony hides a smug smile knowing that there is an 80% chance that the kid would win, the most Tony has ever seen Cap bench is 10 ton. 

Ten minutes later there is a knock at the door, so Tony goes and grabs the pizzas bringing them back into the lounge room. Tony grabs a bunch plates putting them on the countertop. 

“Friday tell everyone the pizza is here” 

5 minutes later there is a swarm of hungry heroes grabbing a pizza. Wanda gets up carefully and grabs some pizza, Tony is about to go and wake Peter not wanting him to skip dinner or sleep too long because he may not sleep tonight when Clint walks over and “accidentally” sits on Peter. 

Peter and Clint have bonded pretty quickly probably because of the fact Clint has a son the same age as Peter, not to mention the fact that Clint is a child disguised as a middle-aged man.

“Get off me!” Peter laughs, shoving Clint off as he gets up to grab some pizza.

Peter was too busy to grab the 15 snacks he usually eats so the kid has already eaten three slices of Pizza before Tony can blink.

“Tony told me that your metabolism matched mine kid” Steve spoke up, who was on slice number 6 himself.

“Yeah, I’m like hungry all the time” Peter saying, taking another big mouthful of Pizza.

Steve chuckles nodding in agreement as they sit and eat their pizzas, deciding to talk to one another instead of watching TV, which was nice and helped ease any remaining tension, which there were still hints of but all of them knew that, that would be the case and that it would take a while before they began to fall back into old habits and really feel like the team they once were.

They talk for another 2 hours just eating pizza. 

“This was a good idea kid,” Tony says, as the others nod or voice their agreement.

Peter who Tony can tell is trying to eat his food slowly just shrugs. 

“Thanks, I did some of those team-building exercises when I first joined the decathlon team” he answers.

They all settle down to watch Stand By Me, which everyone happily agrees on, Peter heads up to his room after the movie to go and do the last of his homework saying that he got a majority of it done in the break between school finishing and decathlon practice starting.

“Can I go on Patrol Tony?” Peter comes down an hour later. 

“Kid it’s 10:30” Tony answers.

“Please? I haven't been since Monday because of you know” he begs, 

“Yeah kid, I know, be home by 12:30,” Tony says sighing, giving into those damn puppy eyes.

“Not a second later though you’ll want to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for your date tomorrow night” Tony yells, as Peter disappears around the corner. 

“DUDE!” Peter yells out, as Tony laughs along with the others who all immediately want details.

Tony feels as though he has embarrassed Peter enough for tonight, so he leaves it at that. 

Tony sat up not only making sure Peter gets home on time but also because there were still a few things on his mind. Don't get him wrong it’s a thousand times better than before but just a few last little worrying thoughts and anxieties.

Tony guesses he's not the only one that felt this way as Steve joins him around midnight, they both sit up and talk about their last few problem and worries.

“Thank you for this Tony, really I know it was a rocky start, but I can feel things beginning to shift and return to the way things once where, I may be overstepping but I think somethings may even change for the better” Steve says, patting Tony on the back.

‘I think so too” Tony says, surprising even himself when he pulls Steve in for a quick hug.

“Sorry, the kid has gotten me used to hugs after deep and meaningful conversations” Tony explains laughing, slightly embarrassed. 

“I actually don't mind a hug,” Steve says. 

“I just know hugging has never been your thing and I respect your boundaries” Steve answers. 

Steve nods smiling at Tony as he heads to the workshop wishing Steve a good night as he disappears into his room. 

Tony smiles to himself as he is starting to think that this will work out and things will finally turn out for the better. 

There's just one thing left he had to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths. - Etty Hillesum


	45. Chapter 45

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't done an awful lot of Pepper and Peter, what do you guys think? do you think this chapter opens up more or an opportunity? would you like a chapter with just those two? let me know!

Peter was in his room finishing off the last of his homework when Tony calls from the lounge room. 

"Hey Kid, come here for a second!" Tony calls sounding chipper. 

Peter puts down his notes and skips down the stairs to the lounge room 

"Yeah Tony?" Peter asks rounding the corner seeing Tony and Pepper sitting on the couch. 

"Take a seat, Peter," Tony says smiling

Peter sits next to the pepper who smiles, wrapping an arm around Peter to pull him closer.

"We are having a kid Peter" Tony informs him smiling

"Oh! congratulations guys!" Peter says smiling. 

"Yup," Tony says pulling out paperwork from behind his back. 

"His name is Peter Parker, and all he has to do is sign on that little dotted line, and he is officially our kid," Tony says smiling just as brightly as Pepper. 

"r-really!?" Peter says his eyes filling with tear out of shock and happiness. 

"I've never been so sure of anything in my life" Tony answers as Pepper wipes his tears and pulls him in for a hug. 

The three hugs for a while, when they pull apart there isn't a dry eye in the room. Peter smiles brightly as he signs on the dotted line. 

Pepper hugs him again, kissing his forehead 

"You are an amazing boy Peter," Pepper says, brushing Peters hair out his eyes. 

"You're amazing too, Pepper," Peter says 

Tony looks up at two standing, hearing Peter call her Pepper reminds him of another topic her should have bought up a long time ago. 

"You know what the means right kiddo?" Tony asks gently shoving Peters shoulder 

Peter shakes his as he looks at the older man 

"This means that you are allowed to call me Dad, and I want you to do that" Tony says wrapping an arm around Peters shoulder. 

"Peter every time you called me Dad, I didn't hate it, in fact, the very opposite, it made me incredibly happy that you would even consider calling me that" Tony explains to Peter. 

Peter nods and hugs him 

"I'm sorry I ran off, I was embarrassed, you told me you never wanted kids," Peter says a small bubbly laugh leaving his mouth. 

"You are one amazing kid Peter Parker, and it would be Peppers and my pleasure if you'd allow us to call you our kid," Tony says hugging back, rubbing Peter back. 

"Okay, I love you Dad," Peter says pulling away and giving Tony a big and bright Peter Parker smile. 

"I love you too kid," Tony says smiling back. 

Tony never thought he would be a dad, he never wanted to be a dad until Peter came into his life, scared that he would be too much like his father but due to unforeseen circumstances, Tony had got the son he didn’t know he was searching for until now, besides he thinks Dad has a nice ring to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Give your stress wings and let it fly away - Carin Hartness


	46. Chapter 46

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one night for leaving you guys waiting for more than the usual 4 days :)

Peter looks at himself in the mirror, nervously smoothing his hair down. He takes a deep breath and makes his way to the lounge room.

“You look so handsome” Pepper coos, coming over to him, fixing the collar on his shirt. 

Peter lets her fuss over his clothes, smoothing nonexistent wrinkles and such as he tries to get a handle on his nerves. 

“Go get her kid,” Tony says, slapping gently Peter on the back. 

Peter smiles and nods hugging Tony and Pepper before he grabs his car keys heading out the door. 

Peter is sitting outside MJ’s house, mentally preparing himself for the evening's events. Open the door for her, tell her she looks nice, but not too much because that’s creepy Mays advice when she helped Peter get ready for homecoming circles around his head.

Peter takes one more deep breath, checking his hair in the mirror one last time before he gets out his car and knocks on her door. MJ’s dad opens the door a few minutes later. 

“Peter, how are you?” Mr Jones asks, holding out his hand. 

“Good, good yeah good sir, what about you?” Peter answers, shaking his hand.

“I’m good Peter, I know you’re a good guy, but I have to do the whole dad thing now, so be good to my daughter and have her home by 11,” He says, letting go of Peters' hand.

“Yeah, of course, Mr Jones sir” he nods.

“You’ve had your fun dad, I’ll see you later,” MJ says, moving past her dad and stepping outside.

“Hi, you look really nice,” Peter says, cringing internally as his voice goes up 2 octaves.

“You don’t clean up badly yourself” she replies smiling at Peter as he opens the car door for her.

Peter walks around the car and gets in himself, before he slowly pulls off the sidewalk as they make their way to the restaurant, Tony almost booked up a private area in one of the poshest areas in Queens, but Peter said that would be too extra on their first date insisting to do all the planning himself. 

They sit down at their table outside, which is nice because it’s a nice night, it’s one of those rare nights that you can see the stars. They order their food, Peter almost ordered a side of garlic bread quickly remember Tony saying specifically not to do that.

Peter tries to ignore his nerves, because this is MJ he's known her for 2 and a half years and they and been really good friends for a year and a half.

“I am really impressed with how you are running the decathlon” Peter speaks up.

It's the only thing that came to mind after a few minutes of silence, which he tried to figure out just what to say to her because they literally saw each other like 4 hours ago at school.

“Thanks, Peter,” she says, giving Peter a genuine smile as she looks down (is she blushing?) her hair falling over her face, before Peter knows what he’s doing he reaches over and tucks her hair behind her ear.

She looks up at him and if she wasn't before she is definitely blushing now. Peter is about to apologize starting to think that, that might have actually been a really weird thing for him to do, but the waiter comes over with their meals.

“Thank you,” they say in unison. 

Things are a little awkward mostly on Peters part but when the conversation gets going and MJ and Peter talk for hours.

“Do you want to get ice cream and walk along the beach?” Peter asks. 

“Of course there’s always room for dessert,” MJ says, as she smiles and nods.

“You know that is actually scientifically true, the glucose in a majority of sweet things naturally relaxes and expands the stomach, therefore literally making room for dessert” Peter explains.

MJ laughs loudly. 

“Only you would talk science on a date,” she says, continuing to giggle. 

“Don’t worry I just so happen to find nerds adorable,” she says, as she links her fingers with Peters.

“You really do look beautiful tonight,” he says looking at her in the moonlight.

They get ice cream, then make the short walk to the beach, walking along the beach hand in hand they lose track on time and panic sets in as Peter sees that he needs to get MJ home in 20 minutes.

Peter gives MJ a piggyback to his car and they both start to laugh as Peter runs, they get in the car and talk about how awesome tonight has been and how it sucks that it has to end but Peter pulls up outside MJ’s house with 5 minutes to spare.

Peter gets out of the car, opens her door grabbing her hand and helping her out the car before they walk hand in hand to her door. She kisses him softly on the cheek, Peter tucks a loose hair behind her ear before he leans in kissing her on the lips goodbye. They break apart quickly as they hear the front door unlock 

“Bye MJ” Peter quickly says, making his way down the stairs. 

MJ walks into her house and he hears the door lock again. 

“Did you have a nice night?” Mr Jones asks MJ. 

“The best” She sighs. 

Peter grins as he makes his way back to the car driving home overflowing with happiness. 

“Hey, look who's home” Peter hears Tony cheer. 

“How did it go kid?” he asks, as Peter flops onto the couch.

“Judging by his goofy expression, I’d say it went well” Sam teases.

“She’s so cool,” Peter says, after a few minutes, sitting up feeling a little giddy

“Details! come on!” Clint says, throwing a pillow at Peter.

“I umm, we went out for dinner, we talked about all kinds of stuff,” Peter tells them. 

Peter isn't going into much detail as they want because no way is Peter going to give them a play by play that’s for sure.

“Then we went and got ice cream, walked on the beach, we lost track of time and I almost made her miss curfew, that wouldn't have been a good first date impression” Peter finishes.

“Not a first impression?” Wanda questions

“Uhm no, I’ve been her friend for almost two years, I’ve met her family a few times” Peter explains.

“Already in with the family, niiiice” Sam says, holds his hand out for a fist pump, which Peter rolls his eyes at but obliges.

“Did you guys,” Sam asks, making kissy noises

“Dude stop!” Peter says, feeling his cheeks heat up

“well, that’s a yes” Natasha smirks

“Don’t you guys have something better do to then interrogate me?” Peter asks

“Nope,” Tony says, throwing an arm around his shoulder

“No, not really,” Sam says, grinning. 

The others also agree that teasing Peter is much more fun than anything they could or should be doing. Peter tells them a little bit more before he excuses himself to go patrol for a while, his spirits are high as he swings through New York City and Queens. 

“Don't you just love, love!?” Peter asks a couple sitting together on a park bench.

He stops a few petty crimes here and there before he heads to bed that night still on cloud nine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step - Chinese Proverb


	47. Chapter 47

With school coming to an end and Christmas around the corner, winter prom was tonight. Peter is standing in front of his mirror, getting frustrated as he makes his fourth attempt at tying his tie.

“Come here kid,” a voice says from behind him. 

Peter looks behind him to see Tony. He walks over to Tony who expertly ties Peters tie explaining to him how he’s doing it as it goes along. 

“Didn’t you wear a tie to homecoming?” Tony asks. 

“Yeah I did, but May didn’t know how to tie a tie either, we spent like half an hour watching a YouTube video trying to tie a half-decent tie” Peter answers.

“I also wore Uncle Bens old suit” Peter speaks up again. 

Now looking at himself in the mirror seeing himself dressed in the brand-new suit Tony bought him for his birthday, it fit nicely rather than being a little bit too big.

“It can’t be as bad as last time, right? I mean last time my dates dad tried to kill me” Peter laughs nervously as Tony straightens his tie. 

“That’s the spirit kiddo,” Tony says, brushing off Peters shoulder, taking a step back admiring his handy work.

“Thanks, Dad,” Peter says, hugging Tony tightly. 

Peter smiles before he grabs his car keys and the corsage. Peter pulls up in front of MJ’s house taking a deep breath before climbing out the car and knocking on the door.

“Someone looks handsome” MJs mother spoke, as she steps aside welcoming Peter into their home.

“Thank you, Mrs Jones,” Peter speaks quickly. 

A few moments later MJ came down the stairs into the lounge room and his breath was taken away she was wearing a beautiful black dress. Her hair was down, and it fell softly past her shoulders. 

“Wow” was all Peter could manage to say. 

“shut up loser,” MJ says, blushing furiously looking down at the floor a massive smile on her face.

“You look handsome” MJ finally spoke again, her face still slightly pink. 

Peter put the corsage gently around her wrist before her mother began to take millions of pictures.

“Enough pictures mum, you’re going to blind Peter with all the flash photography and he kind of needs to see to drive” MJ half-joked with her mum. 

“Okay, okay sorry guys” she spoke, raising her hands in defeat.

“You kids go have fun” Mr Jones spoke, kissing MJ on her cheek slapping Peter on the back.

“I’ll have her back by 11 sir, ” Peter promises. 

“12 I’m feeling generous ”Mr Jones replies.

“Yes, sir thank you” Peter answers again, MJ rolling her eyes but smiling about how adorably dorky and formal her boyfriend was being. 

“Hey Peter, MJ over here” calls Ned, waving at them from the corner of the room.

The dance started a bit awkward as most high school dances do but after a while, the dance floor was swarmed with teens dancing the night away.

The night was a hit, everyone was having fun MJ and Peter even slow danced together for a few songs, they didn’t even mind the friendly teasing from their two other friends, who eventually started dancing with a few other girls in their year. 

The four friends sat down at the table, tired of dancing. Ned went to go get some punch for himself, the others not wanting any. Peter noticed Ned face wrinkle a little as Ned took his first sip, but didn't bring it up as his friend continued to drink the punch.

A few cups later and Ned is starting to act kind of strange, he is forgetting things, asking the same questions over and over again. Ned gets up saying that he needs to go to the toilet before he stumbles, he would have fallen if Peter wasn't quick to catch him. 

“Are you drunk!?” Peter asks his friend, who is unsteady on his feet. 

“Nooooo! Don't be so silly Peter” Ned says, poking Peter's cheek. 

“I’m not 21, not allowed to drink,” Ned says in a sing-song voice. 

“boop,” he says as he pokes Peter on the nose, starting to giggle. 

Peter helps Ned to the bathroom, trying to avoid teachers not wanting them to get suspicious and to avoid trouble. He came back to the table, looking at the others with concern. 

“The punch has been spiked,” Flash told them, as they sat back down. 

Peter was beginning to become concerned about his friend, so he decides that he should probably take Ned home. 

“Look after Ned, Peter I’ll get dad to pick me up,” MJ says, looking as worried as Peter felt.

He went back to the bathroom and picked a drunk Ned off the floor, pretending to struggle to keep Ned on his feet.

“I’ll take her home dude,” Flash says, giving Ned a sympathetic look.

“Thank you,” Peter says, shaking Flashes hand and kissing MJ goodbye.

“Come on dude,” Peter says, helping Ned into his car.

“How are you holding up?” Peter asks, quickly looking at his friend slumped over in the passenger seat. 

“everything is spinning dude” Ned answers Peters question.

“You can’t take me home” Ned spoke again, suddenly becoming aware of the situation 

“Please, my parents will be so mad at me” Ned keeps talking, panic rising in his voice. 

Peter looks over at his friend, Ned has covered for Peter countless times when he went out Spider-Man, doing this one thing for Ned wouldn't be a problem.

“Hey, it’s okay man I got you, you can stay at mine tonight,” Peter says, pulling in the garage before walking around to help Ned out the car.

“Hey, you’re home early,” Tony says, turning around before he takes in the situation

“woah what’s happened?” he asks, as Peter sits Ned down on the couch 

“Someone spiked the punch and Ned drank a lot of punch,” Peter said. 

He bit his lip looking at his friend who was now laying down on the couch curling in on himself.

“Okay, how are you feeling Ned?” Tony asks, walking over to the fridge grabbing a bottle of water.

“Just sit yourself up and sip that slowly for me,” Tony says, handing the bottle of water to Ned. 

Peter and Ned head up to Peters room, Ned only got a few hours’ sleep before he was up again, hugging Peters toilet bowl as Peter sat next to him gently rubbing his back as his friend was ill.

After Ned finished, he handed Ned a damp washcloth so he could wipe his face, Peter gets another damp towel draping it over his friends’ neck as he moans lowly, getting up and making his way back to the bed.

Peter went to quickly grab Ned another bottle of water and clean out the bucket. Peter enters the room to see Ned sitting up, head in his hands 

“woah are you okay?” Peter says, rushing over to his friend who was swaying slightly.

“I’m sorry,” Ned said, his head still in his hands

“I knew the punch tasted funny, I didn't put two and two together, you guys didn't even drink the punch so I don't know why I kept doing it,” Ned said, starting to tear up.

“Hey, you didn't do anything wrong, you have nothing to be sorry for, you drank some punch a high school dance, you shouldn’t have had to assume there was alcohol in it” Peter soothed his friend, cringing as Ned painfully gagged into the bucket.

Peter handed Ned some food, Tony told him that it would be best if Ned ate a little of something, so he has something else rather than alcohol in his system. Ned eats a few bites before he shakes his head and pushes the food away.

“Try and get some sleep,” Peter says, making sure that Ned is warm and comfortable in his bed making sure Ned is sleeping on his side. 

Peter sits awake all night keeping a close eye on his friend getting him bottles of water, helping him to the bathroom and waking him every few hours to make sure things aren't serious.

Tony comes in around 2 am to check on the boys. 

“Hey boys how’s it going?” he asks, coming in and sitting down 

“everything is spinning” Ned answers, as he tries to sit up before choosing to stay laying down.

Ned falls asleep again not long after, Peter tries to get some sleep himself but no matter how hard he tries he can't get to sleep, he's too worried about Ned, knowing that his friend must be completely freaking out because he's never been drunk before and is way too young to be experiencing something like this.

After a restless night sleep, Peter is making Ned some bacon and eggs for breakfast, he takes the food into his room, Ned managed to eat everything on his plate. 

“Are you feeling okay man?” Peter asks softly 

“you’re loud” Ned complains, burying his head in Peters pillows.

“Sorry,” Peter whispers, even softer as he nudges a bottle of cold water into his friends’ hand who takes it and drinks it gratefully.

“Do you have a headache?” Peter whispers, 

“ a really bad one, it feels like I've got a second heartbeat in my head” Ned answers. 

Peter winces at his friend's description so he goes to find Tony.

“Hey um, would it be okay to give Ned painkillers now? he said it feels like there’s a heartbeat in his head” Peter informs him. 

“He should be fine with just one for now” Tony replies, handing Peter a tablet.

“I’ll come to check up on him myself in about an hour to give the medicine time to work,” Tony says, smiling at Peter.

“Here,” Peter says, putting the tablet into Ned's hand.

Ned takes the painkillers and falls asleep again almost immediately. A few hours later, Tony drops Ned home because the worst of it is over and he could pass off the remaining symptoms off as a cold.

Tony smiles at Peter in the backseat, who had fallen asleep as soon as his friend had closed the car door thanking them for everything they had done to help him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose the same thought over and over - William Jones


	48. Chapter 48

With prom and all the dramatics that came with that night over it was nearing the end of the year, the kid only had a few weeks left of school before he finished for the year and Christmas holidays began, this meant that Peter had a lot more homework to make sure everything was perfect before he handed everything up for grading on top of exams. 

Rhodes and Tony just sat down to enjoy a little bit of peace and quiet while watching TV. Peter comes out of his room a few hours later. 

“Hey, uh do you mind if I study out here for a little while? I’m getting bored of being in my room and I’m getting distracted and stuff” Peter asks, waving his physics book around.

“Yeah, sure kid” Tony agrees, smiling at Peter, turning back to the program he was invested in.

Peter lays down on the couch and continues to do his physics homework. 20 minutes later Peter puts his pen down furrowing his eyebrows and starts rubbing his temples.

“Stuck”? Rhodes asks,

“hmmm?” Peter looks up, a questioning look on his face

“Are you stuck on a hard question?” Rhodes asks.

“Oh umm, no, I’m almost done actually. I just have a small headache” Peter replies.

“Well you have been doing homework for 3 hours straight, take a break and finish the rest after dinner, it’s in like half an hour” Tony suggests.

“Yeah,” Peter says, getting up and stretching walking to the kitchen, picking up an apple before sitting down on the couch starting to eat it watching the TV.

“I just said dinner is in 30 minutes,” Tony says, laughing.

“I’m hungry,” Peter says, shrugging before smirking adding. 

“I’m a growing boy Dad”. 

Tony rolls his eyes at Peters comment, once again turning back to the TV. Out the corner of his eye, he sees Peter wrinkle his nose. 

“Does something smell funny to you guys?” Peter asks,

“No?” Tony answers as Rhodes replies saying he also doesn’t smell anything.

Remembering the kid has enhanced senses, Tony does what only seems logical. 

“Hey Friday, it there any kind of gas leak or anything in the vicinity,” Tony asks. 

A few seconds pass as Friday scopes the area out looking for any issues.

“No boss, there are no gas leaks, chemical spills, or anything which would be admitting a “funny” smell” Friday finishes.

“It doesn’t smell like a gas leak,” Peter says, shaking his head

“just.......weird?” Peter says, sounding unsure

“Are you asking me, or telling me kiddo?” Tony says, raising an eyebrow 

“telling you” Peter decides, after a few seconds of silence.

“It just smells weird,” Peter says, shrugging rubbing his head again

“still got that headache?” Tony asks. 

“Yeah, it’s getting worse,” Peter says,

“get some fresh air, that might help with your headache, you’ve been cooped up inside all day” he suggests, opening the doors to the balcony.

Peter nods grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, before stepping out onto the balcony closing the door behind him swinging his legs over the ledge just looking over the city. 

20 minutes later the food arrives, seeing Peter is still outside Tony goes to grab him, Peter jumps up excitedly when Tony says the foods here. 

“feeling better?” Tony asks

“much better, my headache is completely gone,” Peter tells Tony as they walk inside.

He takes a few steps inside and coughs, Tony gives him a look.

“Just a tickle,” he says, 

“Remember what happened last time you lied about being sick” Tony reminds him sternly.

“I’m really fine, I just breathed some air or dust or something and I chocked on it,” Peter says, as he sits down on the floor, picking up his takeout container starting to eat it. 

Everyone one else in the tower doing the same, as they settle down in the lounge room together. They eat in silence watching the TV for five minutes before, Peter starts coughing again. 

“Sorry,” he says clearing his throat.

“I swear I’m not sick, the freaking AIR is making me choke, not even joking,” Peter says confused

“It really does smell weird in here, does NO ONE else smell it,” he says exaggerating. 

Everyone just shakes there head a chorus of disagreements echo around the room. Peter looks confused then gets up and takes out two of the tablets Bruce made for him and swallows them with water. 

“headaches back,” Peter says,

“I’m going to go to my room, I think it’s the smell that’s giving me a headache,” Peter says, walking off rubbing his temples

“He keeps going on about a weird smell, it’s the third time he’s mentioned it,” Tony says frustrated.

“It’s this area where he’s only talked about the smell in this specific location, is he pranking us....?” Tony speaks, as he paces around the room

“I don’t think so Tony, the kid looked a little pale,” Steve says.

Tony looks around at all the equally confused faces before he starts pacing again, looking around the room for anything. Tony sees the others shrug before doing the same then, Tony heard Rhodes voice from the corner on the room. 

“No fucking way,” Rhodes says, looking up at the bookshelf.

“Language” a course of voices responds, 

“IT WAS ONE TIME, IT SLIPPED OUT,” Steve says huffing.

“What is it?” Tony ask Rhodes, following his line of vision. 

“no fucking way” he repeats his friends' words.

“What?” The others say in confusion, as Tony pulls the object off the shelf.

“Bug spray?” says Bruce confused

“OH....you..... you don’t think?” he says wide-eyed.

The others look just as shocked

“there’s only one way to make sure this hypothesis is correct” Tony responds, walking to towards Peters room.

Tony knocks on Peters door. 

“come in” Peter answers, he walks in to see Peter sitting at his desk finishing off his homework.

“I feel a lot better, that medicine really works, thank you so much,” Peter says, grinning at Bruce.

“I think I found out what the weird smell is kiddo,” he says, Peter turns around to look at his eyes flick down to look at what is Tony holding. 

“Bug Spray?” Peter says confused.

“OH MY GOD,” Peter says, eyes wide. 

“that’s......you think?” he stammers 

“Only one way to find out” answers Tony, flicking on the automatic bug spray device waiting a few seconds before it sprays, Peter wrinkles his nose immediately coughing. 

“Yeah, that’s what smells weird,” Peter says, confirming it, his headache returning. 

“That’s why I had a headache and was coughing, I told you I was choking on air I was choking on the smell of the repellent,” Peter says.

“Can you uh turn that off please?” Peter says, wrinkling his nose pointing at the dispenser as it sprays another round of repellent. 

"It was the bug spray” Tony informs the others walking back into the lounge room, 

“I bought the non-scented stuff, but the kid has an enhanced sense of smell” Tony finishes sighing

“not to mention the fact that bug spray effects spiders and that’s actually kind of funny if you think about it” Sam adds

“least I know how to get rid of the kid if he won’t shut up” he jokes, laughing 

“I’m joking” he adds when he sees Tony glaring at him from across the room.

Steve also giving his best friend a look 

“it’s not funny in the slightest” Tony replies shortly. 

He walks to the window and throws the bug spray along with the dispenser out of it.

“That’s a bit dramatic,” Natasha says, rolling her eyes 

But she smiles because she knows how protective everyone, not just Tony is over the kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there's nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you can control? - Wayne Dyer


	49. Chapter 49

Thanks to Peter, the Avengers slowly became a team again over the next few weeks and not a moment too soon. Because a week after they had bonded as a team, and things started to go back to what they once were. 

An alert sounded, telling them to suit up for their first government official mission. Peter had to stay behind, much to his dismay, but rules are rules and in order to fight in the government official missions the kid had to sign a contract, as well as his legal guardian.

Even if the kid wanted too, there was no way in hell Tony was letting Peter get caught up with General Ross and his screwed-up way of running things before Peter became of legal age and had no choice but to sign the accords. 

If the kid signed he would have to reveal his identity, Peter was all for signing until he found this out he just wasn’t ready for the world to know who he was, and Tony wholeheartedly agreed.

Besides as much as Peter liked going on Avengers mission with the team and doing bigger more dangerous feats he really did seem to enjoy looking out for the little guy just as much.

Plus, Peter wasn't too upset at missing out on a few missions, as he was still allowed to go on other Avengers missions with them, just not government-run and funded ones.

Peter is a little sad to see everyone go, getting so used to the house being so alive and full of people hustling and bustling around.

Someone was always nonstop and for someone with as much energy and ready to go attitude as Peter, he had really bonded closely with the team over these short few weeks, making it seem like he has been with them a whole lot longer than he has been. 

Tony knows Peter will be fine though, Pepper has this week free of meetings and she heads back to work next Wednesday, hopefully giving them plenty of time to wrap up the mission and head home before Pepper is called into work, but nothing ever works out that way, blame it on bad timing or good old Parker luck but Pepper gets a call that night, being called into an emergency meeting that she did try to decline but was forced to go to. 

“I’m sorry sweetie, I tried to refuse but hey wouldn't have it” Pepper explains sadly to Peter. 

She was looking forward to some one on one time with him as it hadn't been just the two of them in months.

“It’s okay, I understand, really,” Peter says, smiling up at Pepper.

“I don't have to leave for a few more hours would you like to watch a movie?” Pepper asks, Peter smiles wider and agrees.

They cuddle up on the couch and watch Coco together when the movie end Peter sits on Pepper and Tony’s bed, talking to Pepper as she packs for the meeting she is so desperately needed for.

Pepper is angry that they have dragged her away from what was a promised break to spend more time with her family during the Christmas holidays, but she finishes packing her bags, kisses Peter on the head. 

“Stay safe, call if you need anything,” she says. 

and with that, she jumps on a private jet and is on her way to California where the important meeting is being held. Peter watches her leave with a heavy heart, he can’t help but feel a little ridiculous because any other 16-year-old would be thrilled having the house to themselves.

Maybe throw a big party but even if Peter wanted to throw a party, the only people that would show would be Ned, MJ, Flash and maybe the decathlon team but Ned was in Hawaii with his family, Flash was in Barbados with his little sister and Mother and MJ was in Egypt with her family.

The first few days weren't so bad, Peter kept his mind occupied by building Legos, reading books, binge-watching TV shows, movie marathons, swimming around in the pool and messing about in the gym. 

The nights weren't so bad when he was out on patrol, he stayed out a lot later than he used to, it isn't like he doesn't want to sleep, he just can’t.

The house eerily quiet and Peter hates it, he knows he’s alone in this massive building, it almost makes the silence deafening when Peter does eventually fall into a restless sleep.

He was only woken a few hours later due to the nightmares that'd become a lot more frequent recently, but he had neglected to tell anyone this because simply hearing the others sleeping in their rooms was enough to comfort Peter, but now he didn't have that.

Peter hated being alone because it reminded him of just how lonely he truly was, he was the last Parker on earth.

Peter knew that he has other people now. Other people who he can call a family, but right now not even they were with him. 

Tony called on the fourth day, Peter picked it up after the second ring. 

“Hi, Dad!” Peter answers,

“Hey Kiddo, how are you today?” Tony answers,

“Yeah pretty good,” Peter says, feeling instantly soothed by the sound of his Dad's voice.

“How are you?” Peter asks, hoping this isn't a quick call to check-in and he can talk to Tony for a while.

“Yeah, not bad kiddo but we do have two stay a few more days than expected. Things are going badly, don’t worry everyone is fine, this just isn't going as expected” Tony carefully explains, not wanting to send Peter into a panic. 

“Oh okay,” Peter answers, trying to make it sound like he doesn't think it’s a big deal.

“I got a message from Pepper saying that she had to leave Friday for an emergency meeting” Tony speaks,

“I, uh, yeah she tried to say no, but they refused and made her go, it’s cool though I understand. There’s a whole lot to do here so I’m not bored” Peter speaks quickly,

“So you’re doing okay?” Tony asks.

“Yeah! I’m fine” Peter answers, cursing himself when his voice cracks a little on the word fine.

“Peter,” Tony says gently,

“Seriously I’m okay” Peter answers, struggling to maintain his everything is fine voice. 

Just as Peter thinks Tony is about to argue with him, a voice on the other end of the voice tells Tony to wrap up the phone call because they need to be back out in five.

“I’m sorry Kiddo but I have to go,” Tony tells him,

“Okay, see you Dad” Peter answer.

“Bye kiddo, we all love you,” Tony says,

“I love you guys too” Peter replies to the dial tone.

He grabs his mask from his room, slipping it on thankful that Tony was able to make an AI that is so lifelike, he has taken to speaking with her over the past few days as Ned and Flash didn't have Wi-Fi where they were staying, MJ’s family had a no phones rule on holidays. 

“Hello, Peter” Karen answers,

“Hi Karen, how’s life?” he asks,

climbing up the wall to lie down in the hammock that Bruce bought for him, after finding one too many hammocks made out of webbing

“All systems are functional, so I am doing well” Karen answers.

Peter is relaxing in his hammock when his phone starts to ring in his pocket. Peter pulls his phone out his pocket and pulls his mask off when he sees its Ned wanting to FaceTime.

Peter quickly connects the call, excited to talk to his friend who he hasn't talked too since he left for holidays Saturday morning.

“Hey dude” Ned answers, as soon as Peter answers the call

“Hey man, what’s up? how’s Hawaii!?” Peter asks,

“so cool dude, I finally found a place with Wi-Fi, so I thought I would call you up and see how things are with you, are you having fun with Ms Potts?” Ned asks,

“Uh she had to leave for a meeting Friday,” Peter tells Ned with a shrug. 

“Shit dude, I don't think even I would like to be alone that long” Ned empathizes,

“Yeah, but there a lot to do here around the day and I have gone on patrol every night so that keeps me pretty busy” Peter explains,

“tell me all the cool things about Hawaii,” Peter asks, wanting to move the conversation away from what he had been up to.

“It’s been awesome dude, they greeted us with a lei’s and everyone is super nice, the fruit is crazy fresh here dude,” Ned says, as he starts to explain his holiday.

They talk on the phone for an hour until Ned is called back to his family. Ned and Peter say goodbye to each other as they end the call. Peter makes himself some spaghetti and sits down to watch some TV as he eats.

Peter finishes his food, turns off the TV deciding to go on patrol a little earlier than usual and it's a good thing Peter chose to go to. No longer than 5 minutes into patrol Peter hears a little girl crying, he finds her quickly standing alone on the pathway.  
“Hi, are you okay?” Peter asks,

“Mumma said it’s bad talking to strangers” the little girl replied, hiccupping as she continued to cry.

“Well my name is Spider-Man, what's your name?” Peter says quietly

“Charlie” Charlie answers, rubbing her eyes.

Peter kneels and talks quietly

“I’m here to help you, did you lose your mummy?” Peter asks the title girl, who cries harder as she nods. 

“Hey, it’s okay, we will find your Mummy,” Peter says,

“Karen, what do I do?” Peter asks this is the first time he has ever had to deal with something like this.

“It is best to stay where the child was found if the child does not know the parent's phone number and there is no one around to help look around for the parent, the next step is to call the police”

Peter was about to call the police when a frantic woman runs up, tears streaming down her face,

“Charlie! Oh, baby don't ever walk away from me again” the woman says, scooping the little girl up into a big hug.

Charlie still in her arms, she turns to face Peter, 

“thank you Spiderman, thank you,” The woman says, more tears running down her cheeks as she pulled him into a hug.

“Please, please let me repay you” she whispers,

“there's no need, seeing such a happy family is all the reward I need” Peter answers before he shot a web up at the roof.

“Bye-bye Piderman” Charlie called waving, Peter, waved before he webbed around the corner and out of sight.

He stayed out for hours as it was a heavy night from crime. Every time he turned a corner, someone was getting mugged, or a car was being jacked or some other petty crime being committed.

Exhaustion finally took over and he finally obeyed Karen who told him to call it night over an hour ago. Peter showers and changes into his most comfortable pair of pyjamas, hoping that they would somehow help him get more than the 2 hours sleep he had been managing to get so far. 

However, Parker luck strikes again as Peter wakes up in a cold sweat an hour later, he had dreamed that his families return kept getting delays and by the time they finally made it home they had forgotten who he was.

Peter knew that his dream was completely unrealistic, but it still made him feel uneasy. He tries to fall back asleep, but the emptiness of the tower stood out even more than before, Peter sighs and got annoyed at himself as he began to tear up, he was just so exhausted, he was beginning to become frustrated that he was so past the point of tired that his body just wouldn't sleep.

Peter ran his hands through his hair and almost gave up on sleep all together until a recurring thought Peter kept having popped upon his mind again.

He had been toying with the idea for a few nights but kept brushing it aside as he deemed it too childish, but Peter simply didn't care anymore, he was just so tired and needed a decent night’s sleep so he went down to Tony and Peppers suite and climbed into their bed burying his face in their pillows before he wrapped himself in the warm blankets, falling asleep instantly. 

Despite the fact Tony calling Peter kid all the time, there are a few times that Tony forgets just how old Peter is.

Peter has always been so mature for his age when he needs to be. These past few weeks helping the Avengers become a team again was no exception, running everything like clockwork.

Helping to solve any argument that arose, helping the team sort of all their differences as much as the other members of the team didn't want to admit. 

Peter had been the adult, while everyone bickered like children so much so that they actually almost forgot that Peter was still just a kid.

A kid that has alone for a week and counting.

A kid that has a fear of being alone. 

This makes Tony feel like complete and utter shit as he checks Friday’s footage on his phone and sees Peter crawl into his and Peppers bed that night.

A few nights later and they finally have been given some time off so Tony calls Peter immediately, he has been wanting to call ever since he saw that the most sleep Peter had gotten since they left is 3 hours.

The conversation is going well, Tony can tell that Peter is tired and having a rough time not that Peter would admit it, being too stubborn, also avoiding making his teammates feel guilty because they do not need to feel guilty for something which is out of their control.

They talk for an hour until Peter stops replying, soft snores coming from his end of the line, having fallen asleep because it was comforting to hear such a familiar voice.

“Goodnight Peter,” Tony says smiling, about to hang up. 

“Don't go” Peter sleepy replies 

“I’m not going anywhere, I promise” Tony responds

and he didn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing ever exists entirely alone, everything is in relation to everything else - Buddha


	50. Chapter 50

The next day Peter gets a call, saying that Tony and the others will be home in 8 hours, he is so excited to see them.

The house isn't too messy as Peter cleaned up a few days ago out of pure boredom, but he still gave the house a quick touch up, deciding to order in a whole heap of groceries to make everyone a feast for when they came home.

Everything was prepared and just needed to go into the oven to cook when they were ready for dinner. Peter fell asleep in the lounge room after having a full-on day of cooking and cleaning.

He wakes up to the sound of cars pulling up, jumping up eagerly as that meant everyone was home. The elevator doors opened and out walks the team they were a little battered and buried but they were all there. Peter smiled and ran to Tony eloping him in a massive hug, accidentally bowling him over.

“whoops sorry sorry,” Peter says, helping Tony up.

“I’m glad to see you too Peter,” Tony says, as Peter hugs him again. 

“Sorry, kiddo do you mind loosening your grip a little” Tony wheezes, as Peter squeezes a little too tightly.

“Oh yeah,” Peter says loosening his grip into a gentle hug. 

Peter hugs the rest of them before they all flop onto the couch exhausted from the mission. 

“I made dinner,” Peter says 

He starts to get the plates out the fridge and started piling the massive oven with food, quickly running to the second kitchen to use that oven as well.

They ate sitting around the table, taking turns telling Peter what happened during the mission, Peter asking question after question not only about the mission but how everyone was feeling and what they got up to when they weren't fighting, enjoying having everyone home.

“I say we recover tonight eat this amazing food and get an early night, then we celebrate by throwing a party tomorrow to celebrate coming together as a team again and our first successful government-run mission” Vision suggested, although he wasn’t eating he was still sitting, joining the conversation. 

“movie night? it is Friday” Clint says, wagging his eyebrows. 

Everyone agrees wholeheartedly, so after stuffing themselves with the food they all retired to the cinema to watch some movies.

Peter tries to stay awake to spend the quality time with everyone because he missed them like crazy, but despite his efforts, he was out like a light half an hour later. 

They got halfway through the first movie when Tony’s cell rang, and he left the room to answer it.

Tony answers the phone to General Ross, who was asking for a report on the mission, wanting him to provide a progress report himself on how the Avengers performed according to the laws laid out.

“Can't I provide you with that information tomorrow?” Tony snaps, wanting to spend time with his family.

The answer was a no, so Tony spent the next three hours much to his disgust, going through checklists and progress reports on how they performed during the mission. 

The others have called its night fairly also having little sleep on their very eventful days away from home. Peter having woken up is headed to his room when Tony stops him because Peter looks upset.

“You okay Pete?” Tony asks, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder 

“Yeah, I’m really happy you guys are home, I missed you a lot” he answers, giving Tony a small smile who simply raises a questioning eyebrow a the boy.

“It’s nothing I’m glad your home” Peter responds, not looking at Tony

“Come on, what's eating you kiddo,” Tony asks, turning Peter to look at him.

“If I’m becoming too much work and you don’t want me anymore, I won't be mad” Peter answers, after a few minutes of silence. 

“I know it’s not your fault, but you never have time anymore. You just got back after two weeks all I wanted to do was watch a movie and you’re on the phone and making business deals” Peter says. 

He starts to tear up feeling extremely selfish but can't help the thoughts that are eating away at him and once he has started talking he can stop sentence after sentence come up like word vomit.

“Peter” Tony starts to say

“I’m sorry I didn't mean it, I should probably go to bed” Peter answers quickly, making his way into his room Tony following close behind. 

“Listen kiddo,” Tony says, 

He smiles putting his hand on Peter shoulder who was now lying in bed, avoiding looking at Tony but he turns to look at the older man when Tony grips his shoulder

“Peter don't you dare think for one second that I don't love or care about you, my life has changed so much since you came into it, and it's changed for the better, you made me a better person Peter. You've taught me as much as I've taught you kiddo. Not only are you a kid genius, have a heart of gold which I admire if the whole world was like you kid, we would have world peace, and everyone would be happy with the little things in life. Sure, the world would be incredibly nerdy and geeky, but I’ll get used to it” Tony jokes, as Peter smiles up at him playfully rolling his eyes at Tony's teasing.

“Seriously though Spiderling, you are so wise beyond your years and that is only a few things that not only myself but every single person you know adores about you. Just because I'm not with you physically doesn't mean that I can't be with you here” Tony says, placing his finger on Peter's chest just above his heart

“or here,” Tony says, now placing his finger on Peter's head.

“you're pretty much stuck with me kid, whether you like it or not,” Tony says, making Peter laugh.

“I would drop everything to do anything you need Peter, just tell me and I’ll be home as soon as I am able” Tony promises Peter, who is starting to drift off to sleep as Tony absentmindedly pushes away the curls that have fallen across Peters' eyes.

“I love you Dad,” Peter says sleepily, soft snores leave his frame seconds later, 

"I love you too Peter,” Tony says, before he leaves the room, knowing the kid wouldn’t have heard his response but he means it all the same. 

Peter has a fairly restful sleep that night, his conversation with Tony helped stop any remaining worry Peter had about becoming a nuisance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stress is an important dragon to slay to at least tame in your life - Marilu Henner


	51. Chapter 51

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I totally skipped over like two-chapters so enjoy! I'm so so sorry guys aha

The party to celebrate the Avenger victory starts, Peter is standing by the drinks table slowly sipping at his raspberry soda not paying attention to anything, just looking around and taking everything in until he hears his name being called. 

“Hey Peter! come here” Sam yells to Peter, who comes over and sits next the other man. 

"you and Steve arm wrestle, now” he says, pointing at Steve who is sitting on the other side of him. 

“Please come on,” Sam says pushing both Steve and Peter when neither make a move to get up.

Steve sighs and stands Peter looks at him shrugs doing the same. Peter and Steve kneel around the coffee table the others seeing what is happening to make their way over. 

“the kid has got this in the bag” Tony says, grinning at the others who have made bets on who would win.

Peter and Steve both out their elbows on the table getting into position locking their hands together.

“3,2,1 GO!” everyone shouts.

It’s obvious that neither of them is trying.

“Oh, come on guys,” Sam says, slurring his words slightly as the alcohol he has drunk tonight starts to take effect.

“I don’t want to break the kid's arm,” Steve says, Peter's eyes widen at that statement. 

“yeah, I uh quite like my bones in one piece” Peter answers.

“You won’t break his arm because he’s stronger then you” Rhodes teases, Steve. 

Making him try just that little bit harder as he starts to move Peters arm towards to the table but Peter quickly counteracts Steve’s extra push easily, moving their hands back to the middle. 

“come on I give you both permission to try your best, impress me” Tony says. 

Knowing that giving Steve his permission and asking Peter to impress him would convince both sides to try. 

Steve doesn’t have a chance as soon as Peter is trying, Steve’s hand slams down on the table with a crack

“oh my god, I’m sorry are you okay?” Peter says, looking at Steve as he shakes his hand.

“Totally fine Peter, no need to worry” Steve answers showing Peter his hand, which was completely unharmed.

“Yes, kid! I knew you could kick his ass” Sam says, clapping Peter on the back.

“You were trying, weren’t you?” Sam asks Steve

“I was doing my best, the kids terrifyingly strong” Steve answers, stretching out his hand.

“Sorry Mr Rodgers,” Peter says again, he didn’t like the sound of the older man's hand made when it came in contact with the table.

“Peter, I’m fine” Steve say, once again showing Peter his hand.

“Who wants to wrestle the kid next” Steve asks, teasing the others because he knows if Peter won that easily against him they would have no chance of winning.

The comment gets a range of reactions from laughter to annoyed looks. 

The music starts up again and everyone continues to talk and drink. Peter is sitting on the couch playing on his phone when he looks over to see Bruce leaning over the bar talking to Natasha.

Peter isn’t meaning to listen into their conversation, but he also isn’t trying to not listen either.

“What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” Bruce asks,

flirting with Natasha who is flirting right back 

“I came here for a man, he has a temper, but I tend to overlook those kinds of things” she answers, leaning closer, so she whispers the end of the sentence into his ear.

Peter is now listening to the conversation so closely that he jumps when Tony comes up to him asking him a question.

“Woah jumpy are you okay? The music too loud?” Tony asks Peter 

“I uh no it’s fine” Peter answers 

as he looks back over to Natasha and Bruce who are flirting so obviously that Peter is surprised no one else has picked up on it. I mean come on, even Peter picked up on it and he’s not great at reading signs or flirting himself. 

“Oh, I see,” Tony says, grinning at the two adults then back at Peter

“you know eavesdropping isn’t nice?” Tony questions Peter

“yeah I know but” Peter starts, before Tony cuts him off

“what are they saying?” 

Peter looks up at Tony

“Hey that’s not fair you can’t use me to eavesdrop, after telling me it’s not a nice thing to do” Peter tells Tony, who shrugs

“worth a shot, it’s not like I can’t guess they have been flirting on and off for years” Tony tells Peter, before Natasha comes over

“Hey little spy, did you have fun listening to my conversation” she says, smiling at Peter as his cheeks redden with embarrassment

“I should give you some tips on being a spy, so here’s your first tip don’t spy on a spy” she’s says getting up and stalking off. 

Leaving Peter a little terrified as by the end of her sentence her joking tone got a lot more serious. Peter was having a really great time at the party, he was walking around talking to everyone for a split-second Peter thought about just how crazy this is.

The Peter Parker is having a party with the Avengers, he is talking to them about everyday ordinary things. A few hours later and the news about Tony Stark throwing a party must have spread outside the Avengers tower as more and more people start to come into the building.

Peter assumes Tony knows all these strangers as he greets each one with a smile when they arrive, all joining in the conversation easily. Peter goes to sit on the couch as the people he doesn’t know begins to outnumber the people he does by a landslide, beginning to feel uncomfortable with all these people around starting to wonder just how many of them are wondering who he is and why Tony Stark has a kid in his building.

“Hi, do you work for Tony Stark?” a female in a long red dress asks, walking up to Peter. 

“I Ummm yes, I’m an intern and do intern stuff for Tony Stark” Peter answers. 

Stumbling over his words as his social anxiety gets the better of him, Peter wishes that he was Spider-Man right now. He could really use some of that confidence right now.

Peter wishes he knew but he just can’t figure out what it is about being Spider-Man that gives him the confidence that Peter Parker lacks. Peter excuses himself and heads to his room for the night, the people talking drowned out the music which increased in volume every time someone new would enter the room.

Peter lays down in his hammock to get as far away for the noise as possible before he puts on his noise cancelling headphone and goes to sleep.

Peter was the first to wake up the next morning having gone to bed earlier than the others, while all the adults were sleeping Peter decided to get a start on cleaning the house as it had become a mess.

Peter finished cleaning up the kitchen, heading into the lounge room when he was greeted by Steve who had already started to clear the living space of glasses and empty bottles. Peter smiles at Steve who returns the smile. 

“Good morning Peter” Steve greets

“Hey Steve good morning, didn’t you drink?” Peter asks, wondering why Steve hasn't woken with the inevitable hangover the others will wake up with.

“No I did, my enhanced metabolism processes the alcohol too fast for it to affect me” Steve says shrugging

“Hey, my metabolism is the same, does that mean I won’t be able to get drunk too” Peter asks curiously. 

Picking up a bottle of wine, pretending like he's going to take a big mouthful knowing that a minor drinking would send Steve into a panic 

“that’s something you won’t be exploring for another 6 years son” Steve says seriously, moving to take the bottle out of Peters hand, proving Peters point. 

“I’m joking, Steve, I’m joking,” Peter says, tipping the empty bottle upside to prove his point before throwing it in the trash bag.

A few hours later and the house isn't looking perfect, but it is looking a hell of a lot better than it had a few hours ago. The hungover heroes are also starting to make an appearance, Tony was the last one to wake but not due to alcohol-related reasons, he had one celebratory drink and cut himself off as he had still kept true to his promise about never getting drunk again as long as Peter was around.

Tony slept in late because he also hadn’t slept well after he knew Peter was alone and sad, but he thought of something which would not only complete the family but also keep Peter company if a situation like that where to arise again and Peter had to spend a few weeks alone again. 

Tony got the robots to clean the rest of the house not bothering to ask why neither Peter nor Steve had thought of this because although Steve is getting better with technology he still has a lot to learn, he’s more like a Mum now instead of a grandma when it comes to being tech-savvy and Peter feels bad if the robots clean up after him and chooses to do it himself. While Dum-E and the other cleaning robots whir happily around the house, Tony takes Peter to his secret location.

“No” Peter says, shocked as Happy parks

“Yes” Tony says, getting out the car

“NO WAY!” Peter jumps up and down excitedly

“yes way” Tony replies laughing.

Peter grins and runs ahead into the rescue center, Tony catches up and sees Peter looking around at all the dogs. 

“They all look so sad, can't I take them all home?” Peter says, looking around. 

“sorry buddy, I already have to look after a handful of superheroes’” Tony smiles. 

Peter talks to the lady about the dogs, when they reach a little, scruffy white dog, whose tail is wagging madly. 

“This is Millie” the rescue volunteer tells Peter.

“Hi Millie!” Peter waves, as Millie barks excitedly at her own name. 

“she is only 5 months old and this is sadly the 5th time she has been bought back to us” the volunteers tells Peter,

“Well she's not coming back this time” he tells her confidently, having made his decision on which dog he would be taking home.

Millie is so excited that she can hardly hold still long enough for Peter to clip the lead onto her collar. She races towards the car, running around excitedly tail wagging madly as she jumps into the car and starts licking Peters face madly. The drive home is surprisingly calm, Millie sits on Peters lap the whole time with her head out the window watching the world zoom by. 

The others go crazy over Millie, she tries to get away from the attention at first, barking madly at everyone and running away when they try to pet her. They introduce themselves one at a time to Millie, assuming she is overwhelmed by all the people.

After the room is fairly empty she soaks up the attention given to her by each member, after a while, they are all in the room again as Millie circles the room making sure she is patted by everyone. Peter shows Millie around to the places she is allowed to roam, which is Peters room, the lounge room and any other Avengers room with their permission. 

Tony finds Peter and Millie in Peters room a few hours later, she is lying down as Peter gently strokes her and talks calmly to her.

“Don’t worry, I won’t leave you. We will be friends forever, I’ve lost a lot of people I care about too. My parents died in a plane crash when I was four, I don’t remember them all that much” Peter says trailing off. 

“do you remember your parents?” he asks Millie, who rolls on her belly 

“or your first owners?” Peter continues, rubbing Millie's tummy.

Millie sits up and tilts her head as if she’s really listening, trying hard to figure out what Peter is saying before letting out a happy bark, licking Peters face, making him laugh loudly and pull her into a gentle hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything happens for a reason


	52. Chapter 52

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really am sorry buys but I hope so is a nice surprise and you enjoy. I wrote this like 5 years ago and jumped like 3 pages while uploading it......

Peter has been so spending more and more time with not only his friends but MJ. This made Peter realize just how little time Tony and Pepper spent together, he also couldn’t get the whole ordeal with Natasha and Bruce his head, so Peter hatched a plan.

“Hey, Natasha?” Peter says, coming into the gym where she was just finishing up her training

“I wanted to know if you were free tonight? I wanted to take you out for dinner as a thank you for all the stuff you’ve done for me this year” Peter asks her

trying to sound as inconspicuous as possible as he also asked Bruce the same thing not too long ago.

Like Bruce, she agrees, thanking Peter before finishing up her training 

“Tony helped me make a booking, knowing him it’s fancy so dress nice” Peter informs her, as he walks out of the room.

Tony and Pepper are both in meetings and will be for a few hours, so Peter gets to work, he sets up a nice table in their suite, getting another part of his plan out the way. Once Peter has finished setting up everything for Tony and Peppers date, he went back to focusing on Natasha and Bruce.

Peter asked Bruce to meet him at dinner, telling him that he had a little bit of running around to do and didn't want to put Bruce through the trouble. Peter got dressed in his nice suit before he drove Natasha to the restaurant Peter had booked for the two unsuspecting lovebirds.

“You look really pretty,” Peter told Natasha, as he opened the door for her before they walk inside.

Peter smiles as his stomach begins to do summersaults as he sees Bruce sitting and waiting at a table.

“oh, good Bruce is already here, well I have a bunch of stuff to do at home, so I should probably get going,” Peter says quickly, leaving a shocked look Natasha standing at the front entrance.

Peter watches as she smiles at him shaking her head, before making her way over to Bruce. Peter smiles and leaves once he sees Bruce greet her with a kiss on the cheek, pulling her chair out for her to take a seat. 

“Tony! Pepper!” Peter called, out ready to start part two of his plan. 

“you called?” Tony responds, coming around the corner 

“Everything okay?” Pepper asked, stepping out the elevator.

“Follow me, please,” Peter says, making his way to the suite.

“This is a date night for you guys, up to you if you want to dress fancy or not I’m just wearing this because I’ll be your waiter for tonight” Peter addresses, before leaving the room to prepare for dinner.

Tony smiles as Peter left the room 

“Madam,” Tony says, as he pulls out Peppers chair 

“thank you, sir,” she says laughing, coming over kissing him on the cheek before taking her seat.

Peter did an amazing job of decorating the lounge room, there are twinkling lights everywhere a beautiful vase of red roses in the middle of the table. Tony and Pepper were both looking around at the set up when Peter comes back in with a bottle of wine,

“Would you like some wine?” Peter asks, holding out the champagne bottle

“that would be great Peter” Tony replies, as Peter starts to pour some champagne into each glass before he puts the bottle in the ice bucket he has placed on the floor.

The kid has thought of everything. He comes in a few moments later with the entree. The kid has been getting better and better at cooking and is rather handy in the kitchen, coming up with his recipes.

Dessert is his favourite thing to make, he has learnt so much a bunch of things from the internet, so everything looks fancy and intriguing. It does take him a few hours to make a dessert, but the result is quite incredible.

The entree they have today is stuffed potato skins and finger foods Peter even made a menu, so they can see what they will be eaten tonight, Pepper thought was incredibly adorable of the young boy to do, giving him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek before he leaves them to eat the food he has placed in front of them.

They eat their entree slowly as they talk about their week, having not seen each other since Monday both glad that Peter thought to set this up.

“To a wonderful night,” Pepper says, raising her champagne glass

“to a wonderful life,” Tony adds softly, clinking his glass against hers.

Peter comes in to serve them dinner, a beautifully cooked steak, freshly steamed vegetables and mash potatoes. Placing a gravy boat in the middle of the table, Peter once again leaves the room. Tony and Pepper talk about nothing and everything for the next couple hours just simply enjoying each other’s company.

A little further into the night, Peter comes back into the room with the final course even though they were both getting full they couldn't deny dessert which was a chocolate fountain surrounded by all sorts of other treats such as brownies, pretzels, marshmallows and an assortment of fruit.

Peter even roped Clint into the special date night, having him make dessert martinis for the both of them to share. Pepper and Tony decided to eat their dessert on the couch while they relaxed and watched the notebook, which had become a tradition to watch on date nights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love yourself you are more than worthy of it


	53. Chapter 53

The temperature hadn't been too bad for being winter, but the temperature dropped rapidly Thursday night as snow began to fall. Tony asked Friday to turn on the heating in the house, everyone sits down for dinner in the new dining room Tony recently had renovated, thinking that it would be nice to sit at the table and eat rather than on the floor and couches in the lounge room. 

Steve insisted on cooking tonight, he worked in the kitchen for hours producing an amazing looking pork roast with a ton of vegetables. They all served themselves, putting food on their plates there was enough to go around with Steve cooking, sometimes forgetting that not everyone needed to eat as much as he did, but it was good for leftovers, so Tony wasn’t complaining. 

They sit around the table slowly eating and talking, that’s when Tony released that Peter hadn't said anything since dinner started, Peter usually talked enough for all of them combined, telling them about his day at school and what he and his friends had gotten up to during lunch. Peter, however, was focused on eating tonight, he had almost cleared his plate and they had only sat down to eat 8 minutes ago.

“Sorry! I’m just really hungry and this is delicious” Peter says, 

He smiles taking his last mouthful of food looking around the table at everyone else eating.

“Help yourself to more” Steve says, gesturing at the food laid out on the table reading the kids mind.

“Slow down a little kiddo, I don't want you to choke,” Tony tells Peter. 

The kid was eating like he hadn't eaten in weeks and not a few hours ago when he ate the left-over fruit salad.

“I’m like even hungrier than usual,” He tells Tony, as he slows his eating down joining in on the dinner conversation. 

“Okay, we have the movies lined up let's get this started,” Bruce says. 

A few weeks ago, they had decided to make Friday nights, movie night where they all just sat around in the cinema watching movies, providing commentary now and again when they watched a movie everyone had seen a million times.

Peter is sitting between Pepper and Tony who both look at him when they hear his teeth chattering.

“a little cold there?” Tony asks,

“yeah a little,” Peter says, 

His continues to shiver, hugging his knees to his chest, after hearing that Pepper gets up and grab a blanket draping it over his shoulders. 

“Thank you” Peter smiles at Pepper. 

He wraps the blanket around himself, curling up into her side as he stops shivering. 

Peter only makes it through one movie before his eyelids feel heavy, struggling to keep them open.

“I’m going to head off to bed,” Peter says, getting up and stretching as the movie ends.

“night kid,” Tony says, pulling him in for a hug

“Goodnight sweetheart,” Pepper says, kissing him on the forehead not questioning him like the others.

“It’s only 10 pm,” Clint says, checking the time on his watch,

“Yeah, I’m just really tired” Peter yawns.

“Night everyone” Peter waves as he leaves the room.

Steve and Bucky are the next to call it a night

“hey, the grandpas lasted longer than the kid” Clint teases. 

Causing Bucky to roll his eyes and pour his remaining popcorn over Clint’s head. 

“I don't even care, I’ll eat it,” Clint says his mouth already full of popcorn.

They wish the others a good night and head up to their rooms, the rest of the heroes watch a few more movies crawling into bed around 3 am. Saturday is just a lazy day no one has anywhere to be or anything to do so they are all just hanging around the house doing whatever they please which a nice change.

“Hey, sleeping beauty” Sam calls, as Peter comes around the corner with a bad case of bed hair.

Tony assumes the kid is still in his pyjamas but can’t know for sure as he is wrapped in his quilt. 

“good morning” Peter mumbles sleepily. 

He rubs his eyes as he sits at the kitchen counter looking like he isn't planning on moving to make his breakfast anytime soon. Tony takes the task of making the kid some breakfast, making him a couple of slices of toast and a hot chocolate.

“Thank you,” Peter says smiling. 

Tony slides the toast and hot drink to him smiling. Peter sips at his hot chocolate, eyelids dropping as he puts it back on the counter.

“Are feeling okay? how are you still tired?” Tony asks Peter. 

Shocked as he sees the kid acting like he didn't wake up from a 14-hour sleep 5 minutes ago.

“Teenagers, they sleep a lot man,” Clint says,

“with that much sleep you might have a big growth spurt coming your way, I swear every time Coop gets more than ten hours sleep he grows another 6 inches,” Clint tells Tony, as he watches Peter who has moved on to sleepily eat his toast.

Clint laughs when Peter falls asleep with the toast in his mouth for a few seconds.

“Who's down for a walk in the snow?” Wanda asks. 

She smiles coming into the lounge room wanting to spend some quality time with her team after coming back from the long and very much needed vacation her and Vision went on. 

She was already rugged up wearing a beanie and a scarf. They all agree that it sounds like a nice idea, so they get changed into something warmer. Heading outside as the snowfall gets even heavier the ground now covered in a blanket of snow. 

“How many jumpers are you wearing!?” giggles, Wanda, as Peter comes outside.

“umm, three? it’s really cold” Peter says, shivering

“it is pretty nippy” Sam agrees. 

Grinning as he lobs a snowball which hits Steve in the face, after that, it’s on snowballs are flying everywhere.

“Civil war part 2” Peter laughs, dodging a snowball Tony lobs at him. 

They all laugh at Peters comment and bombard him with snowballs. Everyone is laughing and having a great time, an hour passes they are all shivering but laughing, having a wonderful time 

“You okay Peter?” Tony hears Bucky asks 

hearing the concern in his voice he starts to walk over to where Peter and Bucky are talking 

“Y-yeah just-t-t c-c-o-old,” Peter says shivering, his teeth chattering loudly

“get inside kid your lips are blue” Tony tells him hurrying him inside.

“go take a warm shower and change” he instructs. 

Peter doesn't get very far before he clumsily stumbles forward. 

“Woah I got you kiddo, what’s wrong?” Tony asks steadying him with his hands. 

“M’ so tired” Peter replies, struggling to keep his eyes open.

Tony wraps his arm around Peter who greedily leans into the touch. 

“so warm,” Peter says, letting his eyes slip closed. 

Tony is getting more concerned by the second, lays Peter down on the couch Peter immediately begins shivering as soon as Tony lets go. Steve noticed it to coming over and handing Tony blankets which he drapes over Peter. As Tony does so he notices something

“Peter bud, why are you wearing your suit right now?” he asks the young boy 

“the heater, it’s warm” Peter replies sleepily.

His answer is slightly concerning so Tony feels his forehead just to make sure he isn't coming down with something, as soon as Tony does so, he freezes something is definitely wrong Peters skin is like ice.

“Friday what’s Peters Temperature,” he asks

“Peters temperature is currently 35C (95F)” Friday answers.

Tony tries to keep his breathing steady, trying to think straight. 

Think Tony think, this is not the time to freeze up, use that IQ of yours and help the damn kid he urges himself beginning to panic. Tony is on the verge of a panic attack when he looks back at Peter who is still shivering.

“Spiders can’t thermoregulate,” he says out loud.

“Peter, you still with me kid?” Tony asks, 

hoping to keep Peter awake, worried that if he goes to sleep again his body might go into hibernation and 

Tony won’t be able to wake him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By forgetting the past and by throwing myself into other interest, I forget to worry - Jack Dempsey


	54. Chapter 54

When the weather started to change rapidly Peter didn’t think much of it. This is New York, they have crazy weather patterns all the time and it was winter so of course; the temperature is going to go below freezing. 

What Peter shouldn’t have shrugged off though was the many warning signs that he had encountered last year and how winter was different now with his spider genetics.

The first thing Peter noticed was that he was hungrier than usual, which was insane because Peter was always hungry on a normal day to day bases, he put it down to him being out on Patrol a lot more because of school holidays, he was burning a lot more energy spending most of his day protecting the streets of Queens and New York.

He didn’t even keep track of how much of Steve’s dinner he ate before they sat down and watched a movie. The cinema being dark was a lot colder than the rest of the house, Peter had goosebumps as soon as he entered the room and was shivering minutes later, the warm blanket Pepper put over him didn’t do much to keep him warm either, but Peter kept quiet and watched the movie. 

Well, he at least tried to watch the movie, no matter how hard he tried to keep his eyes open he kept drifting off to sleep, which surprised him because he got 6 hours of sleep compared to his usual 3 or 4.

Peter finally decided that there was no point in trying to stay awake and called it a night. Everyone wished him a good night, Clint voicing that it was only 10.

“Yeah, I’m just really tired” Peter replies trying to stifle a yawn.

He climbs into bed and asks Friday to turn up the heat a little, his room is freezing. Peter grabs a bunch of quilts and blankets from the cupboard throwing them on his bed before he curls up underneath them, bundling them around him before he falls asleep.

Peter wakes up, still exhausted he looks at the time expecting only a few hours to have passed seeing that 14 have passed. He thinks about going back to sleep, but he knows he’ll get no sleep tonight if he does. 

He gets out of bed, shivering against the cold, then puts on a jumper, putting on a few more when that doesn’t warm him up. 

Peter is confused as to why he still feels the chill, shrugging before putting on his Spiderman suit, turning on the heater relaxing into the warm before putting on a couple of jumpers, wrapping his quilt around himself before he walks out to the lounge room.

“Good morning sleeping beauty” Sam teases him, as Peter comes into view sitting down at the kitchen counter. 

“good morning” Peter answers, 

He thanks Tony as he hands him some toast and hot chocolate, he wraps his hands around the hot chocolate drinking it quickly because as it warms him up.

Peter started on the toast snapping his eyes open as he heard Clint’s muffled laughter. Peter was falling asleep at the table, so he only caught bits and pieces of their conversation. He was excited when Clint said him sleeping more than usually meant a growth spurt because he hated being so short. 

“How many jumpers are you wearing?” Tony asks as they make their way to the door, walking outside. 

“umm, three? it’s really cold” Peter says shivering. 

Cols was an understatement he was absolute freezing, his face and hands which were exposed to the cold physically hurt. Sam starts a snowball fight and Peter forgets that he feels likes he’s freezing to death.

“Civil war part 2” Peter laughs at his dumb joke before everyone pelts him with snowballs.

A few hours later he is shivering so much that it’s hard to get words out. 

“Hey, you look a little chilly, you okay?” Bucky asks,

“Are you okay Peter?” Bucky asks 

A little louder when Peter doesn’t reply, grabbing Tony’s attention who makes his way over quickly. 

“Y-yeah just-t-t c-c-o-old” He replies around his chattering teeth.

“Get inside kid your lips are blue” Tony tells him, hurrying him inside.

“go take a warm shower and change” Tony instructs. 

That sounded wonderful, so Peter goes to make his way toward his room he takes a few uncoordinated steps forward, his cold and tired body refusing to work properly.

“Woah, I got you kiddo, what’s wrong?” Tony asks steadying him.

“M’ so tired” is all Peter can manage. 

He’s focusing on keeping his eyes open panicking slightly because there was something wrong with him. Tony helps him to the couch. 

“so warm” Peter mumbles. 

He lets his eyes slip closed as he leans into the warmth that’s radiating off Tony.

Tony lays him on the couch and he immediately starts to shiver again, he’s not sure but he thinks Tony just asked why he’s wearing his suit, so he tells him he’s using the heater. Peter must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing he hears is Tony’s panicked voice, asking if Peter is still with him. 

Peter nods his head trying not to fall back asleep, but it’s so hard he feels like he hasn’t slept days, the only thing keeping him awake right now is how cold he is. 

The next thing he knows he’s being lifted and carried somewhere.

They go downstairs, they turn the lights on and rush him into the med bay. The room is freezing because the heating hasn’t been on. Peter winces as he is about to lay down on a leather seat, he shakes his head because he knows how cold it’s going to be. 

“Cold,” he tells Tony who still has him bridal style in his arms.

“I know buddy, I know,” Tony tells him wincing along with Peter as he is laid down on the uncomfortably cold seat. 

Peter couldn’t feel his hands, so he reached out for Tony’s, which were running through his hair. Tony wrapped his hands around Peters and the warmth didn’t feel good anymore. 

it stung. 

but Peter didn’t pull away because he knew the pain was the blood running back to his frozen limbs.

Peter was so tired, he thought he heard Tony or Bruce trying to ask some questions, but they were just white noise in the background as he kept fading in and out of conciseness, he made valiant attempt to utter some kind of reply or make some so of movement, so his Dad wouldn’t panic so much.

Peter was still shivering in his arms which was a good sign, his body hadn’t gone into shock or gone into hyperthermia. Bruce and Tony quickly ran him into the med bay to find a quick fix solution, so Peter was at least a little more comfortable while they figured out a more permanent solution. 

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Peter clings a little tighter to Tony when they enter the room, even Tony could feel the chill in here, he didn’t even want to imagine how Peter was feeling. Peter whimpered holding on tighter when Tony went to place him on an examination seat.

“cold,” he says shivering, he could barely make out the one word, his teeth which were chattering together painfully.

“I know buddy I know,” Tony tells him. 

Placing him down on the seat wincing when Peter does, he starts running his fingers through the boy’s hair hoping to provide some sort of support and reassurance. Peter reaches up for Tony’s hand, almost like he wanted him to stop what he was doing.

Tony was confused until he felt how ice-cold Peters hands were, guessing what the young boy wanted he wrapped his own hands around the boy’s ice-cold ones.

“I know it’s hard but keep fighting sleep buddy we don’t know what to do just yet, falling asleep might make it worse” Tony urged Peter. 

Beginning to shake himself not from cold but from the sheer panic about what figuring out what they had to do and quickly.

Peter hummed in response and Tony could see him trying to open his eyes.

“We found an electric blanket,” Steve says, running into the room.

They plug it in and wrap it around Peter who sinks into the warmth immediately, snores coming from Peter, not moments later and Tony panics.

“Peter! Open your eyes for me buddy” Tony says, gently shaking Peter's shoulder. 

“Tony! Tony! Stop, he’s fine, I hooked him up to the brain scanners while you were busy making sure he was okay. He can sleep, everything is functioning normally” Bruce explains. 

Peters breathing slowed significantly, his heart rate dropped moments later. Tony wasn’t thinking straight, only thinking about Peter and everything that could go wrong.

Bruce noticing his friends panicked state immediately sat him down in a chair next to Peter and explained that what’s happening is completely fine, saying the slowed heart rate and breathing is just his Spider DNAs natural response to hibernation. 

“Animals eat a lot the day before and sleep from days up to months of the winter sleeping, their body slows down so they don’t starve while they sleep” Bruce explains 

As he puts a comforting hand on Tony’s shoulder as he nods, he knew that, but when anything happened to Peter all logic was replaced by panic. 

Rational thoughts becoming irrational. 

Tony sat with Peter keeping an eye on his vitals, talking to Peter even though there was a high chance Peter couldn’t hear a word he was saying. 

Bruce came back to Peters side a few hours later looking stressed and sweaty, as he was also worried about Peter, working harder than ever to find a cure that would help Peter spring back in no time.

“Okay, ” Bruce says, flicking a syringe that contained a bright blue liquid.

“I’ve run tests on the blood samples I took, and this should do the trick,” Bruce tells Tony. 

Tony looks up nodding trusting his nearest and dearest friend. Bruce injects Peter with the strange fluid chuckling as Tony sits forward, expecting an instant reaction.

“I’m good, but I’m not that, it’s going to take a few hours for the serum to work its way through his system,” Bruce says, patting Tony on the back. 

He gets up and hugs Bruce. 

“Thank you” is all he says. 

“it’s no trouble at all” Bruce replies. 

He smiles sitting down himself on the other side of Peter waiting for the young hero to wake from his slumber. 

A few hours later and Peter has now moved back into the lounge room which is much warmer than the med bay, watching Tony pace back and forth. 

“This is the third time something bad has happened to you because of your spliced DNA kiddo, I think we need to run some tests so we don’t get fucked over by something else to do with your spider side” Tony explains to Peter. 

“language,” Bruce says, smiling

“I HEARD THAT” Steve screams from the hallway

Causing Bruce, Peter and Tony burst out laughing.

The next morning Peter, Bruce and Tony are in the lab looking at Peters blood and testing anything else that might happen because of his mutant DNA, biting on the nose before something else happens. 

Tony kicks himself for not thinking about doing tests after his sensory overload, but they say third times the charm.

“Well the good news is that amount of spider DNA you carry won’t make Bug Spray lethal to you” Bruce jokes.

“A small headache you got is the only side effect that you’ll ever have to deal with” Bruce answers

“Could you imagine if it was, imagine Spider-Man being defeated by pest control” Peter laughs,

“We know you can’t thermoregulate as well as you used to, thanks to the most recent turn of events but the injection I gave you fixed that up. You still going to run a little colder than the average joe, but you aren’t going to almost freeze to death and try to go into hibernation” Bruce says, Peter blushing slightly. 

“Sensory overload issues, have been sorted by your Dad adding tech to your suit, and the sensory deprivation room he’s built for you here” Bruce continues to talk, as Peter nods.

“We are going to test some stuff today, no matter how silly these tests seem or how dumb the questions sound we need you to answer honestly” Bruce finishes, as he turns to Peter. 

Peter nods feeling a little unsure he doesn’t really want to run tests, he doesn’t want to find out how much of a freak he is, he feels like every time he turns around he finds out a new power or someway his mutant DNA can screw him over.

“Hey,” Tony says, interrupting his train of thought. 

“I know it’s rough buddy, I don’t want to do this either, I feel weird testing things on you, like some kind of experiment” 

Peter flinches at the word experiment

“But we all know it’s for the greater good if we find out something else we can kick it before it kicks you,” Tony says.

“I know, I trust you guys. Just don’t dissect me” he jokes smiling. 

"Okay considering what happened with the bug spray we should start with if there is anything else around the house that could trigger the same reaction, there are also natural repellents I’m going to go through the list okay tell me if you think it’ll cause the same reaction" Bruce talks quickly. 

Peter nods listening

“Oranges?”

“I drink orange juice for breakfast every morning and oranges are like my second favourite fruit,” Peter says.

“Peppermint?”

“No way, peppermint hot chocolate is like my favourite thing ever” replies Peter quickly.

“Lavender?”

“I’ve never really liked the smell, but it’s doesn’t give me a headache or anything” Peter sighs.

Bruce asks more questions, they do a few tests Tony lists off a few more things. Peter shows no reaction to anything else and his answers to all the questions are no. 

Some of the questions are extremely stupid and seem pointless but Peter answers them truthfully because he knows Tony is worried and is only trying to help.

They are in the lab for three hours talking to Peter, asking every question under the sun and testing things when he doesn’t know the answer. Peter started to get bored and was now hanging upside down from a hammock he made out of webs.

“What are you doing kid?” Tony asks, 

“just hanging around” Peter answers. 

Tony groans at the pun, as Bruce chuckles. 

“You’ve been like that for like half an hour isn’t the blood running to your head?” Bruce asks, looking at Peter from behind his glasses. 

“Not really, that stopped happening after I got bitten, besides I like being upside down,” Peter says smiling.

“That’s a good point,” Tony says.

“What?” Bruce says

“We’ve asked the kid a ton of questions, but we technically haven’t asked him anything if you think about it” Tony continues. 

“What do you mean you haven’t asked me anything, you’ve been asking me things for two hours and testing stuff for another hour, I’ve said no like 50 million times” Peter whines

“I’m starting to lose all meaning behind the word, you know how you say a word over and over again and you start to second guess that it’s even a word because you’ve said it so much” Peter rambles

“I’m just so bored” he finishes, doing a backflip off the hammock.

“See that’s what I mean, we’ve asked questions, but we haven’t asked you anything. Like you just said you like hanging upside down, why is that?” Tony prompted

“I don’t know, I just do......it’s stupid……it's kinda” Peter pauses, looking unsure if he wants to finish that sentence or not 

“comforting, I don’t know,” Peter says turning red

“I’ve seen you make all sorts of stuff with your webbing, I find these little hammocks all over the place” Bruce now asks. 

Peter sighs, he just wants this to be over and done with so he swallows the embarrassment, talking fast half so he can leave and the other half because he wants to get it all out before he gets too embarrassed. 

“I like making things out of my webs too, the hammocks are really awesome so yeah I make those a lot, I like swinging through the city too, it’s like an adrenaline rush, swinging free-falling and then catching yourself and flipping yourself into the sky it sort of feels like flying” Peter says smiling.

“Anything else?” Tony asks

“No, can I please go?” Peter asks getting up, going run out of the room

“Are you sure?” Bruce asks.

Peter sighs, turning back to face the two older men he wants to leave, and 

he has a plan. 

“Sometimes I get the urge to eat flies,” Peter says.

“I’m sorry you what?” Tony asks, looking a little shell-shocked.

Peter smiles

his plans working 

“Not very often, just sometimes I don't know. I get lost in thought wondering what a fly would taste like” Peter says again.

Tony and Bruce stand there like they aren't sure what to say.

Peter waits a few seconds to let it sink in. 

“I’m kidding, that’s totally gross,” Peter says laughing. 

“the looks on your faces,” he says laughing harder as he exits the lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're doing your best, you won’t have any time to worry about failure - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.


	55. Chapter 55

A couple of weeks later, the house is chaotic because it is December. The house is slowly being decorated with Christmas decorations, lifting everyone’s spirits.

Tony used to hate Christmas but spending it with his friends he now calls a family over the past 10 years has made Tony love Christmas again. Tony knows that this year is going to be the best Christmas so far, Christmas just so happens to be Peters favourite holiday.

Peters excitement for Christmas has been increasing day by day, putting up 80% of the decorations himself gushing over how Christmassy everything looks. 

Normally Tony would hire someone to decorate the tree for him but his year they did it themselves, even with the whole house lending a hand the tree still took hours to decorate, with Peter having to climb onto the ceiling to be able to put the star on top.

After a long day’s work of decorating the heroes all sit down on the couch, ready to enjoy some hot chocolate and a Christmas movie, the movie is interpreted by a strike of lighting Thor and his brother Loki walking into the living room moments later.

“My friends!” Thor exclaims loudly,

“I see that you have once again bonded, it makes me happy to see that all is well again” Thor booms, walking around the room greeting everyone individually. 

“I thought I might join you for the holiday festivities as I did last year having enjoyed myself so much I was wondering if it would be okay to show my brother Loki just how wonderful human celebrations can be” Thor's booming voice echoed through the room. 

He smiles wide as he points to the god of mischief standing rather awkwardly in the door frame.

“I promise you my brother has changed his way my friends” Thor speaks again. 

Peter is the first to speak up

“Hi, Mr Loki,” Peter says, holding his hand out for Loki to shake.

Loki takes Peter hand shaking it

“who might you be?” Loki asks,

“That is the man of spiders” Thor informs Loki on behalf of Peter

“He’s a child” Loki points out

“I can hold my own” Peter says, sitting back down on the couch.

The others feel slightly uneasy in Loki’s presents the room now slightly filled with awkwardness, but Peter sits right next to the god asking him questions. Whether it was because Peter was too young to remember when Loki attacked, destroying half of New York or Peter just forgave and forgot as he does with everyone in his life.

Loki although pretending to be annoyed seemed too warm up to Peter just as quickly as everyone else had, making easy conversation with Peter now talking about what they both did for fun, Loki making the mistake of asking ‘what a Star Wars was’. 

After their government mission, they hadn’t gotten any calls, nor where the public in need of an avenger level catastrophe, which was brilliant Peter was still going out every night on patrol because being Christmas holidays he didn’t have to worry about sleep and homework. 

He went out every night very rarely missing a night because New York would never stop committing a low-level crime, especially a Christmas time, but the Avengers were still bored around the house. There’s only so much you can do around the house of a morning before you start to get bored. 

Clint is technically to blame for the chaos, he wanted to have some fun at the expense of his friends, pulling some good old pranks on his team members before he went home to his family who he missed dearly. Peter and the others, however, were the ones who turned it into a full-blown prank war.

It began when Clint scared his unsuspecting teammates with an air horn. Tony jumped a little then cursed at Clint, flipping him off. Natasha wasn’t fazed at all and just walk right passed with an exasperated look. Peter jumped so high that he stuck to the ceiling, Thor thought this was great fun laughing loudly along with Clint at the humans' reactions. 

“Is this a human custom?” Thor questions the youngest boy, as he detaches himself from the ceiling.

“Yeah, they're called pranks” Peter answers the god's question 

“Pranks?” Thor repeats,

“yeah like jokes that you trick other people with to scare them or fool them into believing something” Peter explains,

“Ah, I believe my brother has pranked me” Thor answers, seeming to understand.

He looks over at his brother smiling

“He turned into a snake because he knows I love snakes, so I picked it up to admire it he turned back into himself and said "AHHH It’s me” then stabbed me”. Thor explains his brothers “prank”, chuckling as a smirk spread over Loki’s face.

Peter looked at the god wide-eyed with shock.

“If anyone starts stabbing people as a prank” Tony directs (mostly at Loki)

“There will be repercussions,” he says, leaving the room

“That’s dangerous, not a prank,” Clint says also looking concerned.

“It’s all in good nature, I heal rather fast” Thor answers, still laughing.

Clint and Peter share a look before following Tony out of the room. Peter retaliated by filling all the ice cube trays will Mentos so when the ice melted enough the person's soft drink would wildly start fizzing. 

He did this knowing that Clint drunk a lot of fizzy drinks and always used way more ice than necessary. Clint side-eyed Peter as his drink fizzed and overflowed in his hands no doubt planning his next prank. 

Cutouts of cockroaches were placed on lamps.

Bang snaps were placed under toilets, making poor Steve think he had broken the toilet, which he sheepishly told Tony about who laughed and explained what had happened.

Googly eyes were glued on every single item in the fridge, scaring Thor it took so time to convince the poor guy that the food had not become sentient and it was just another prank

“very well-done man of spiders, very well done indeed” Thor compliments Peter on his prank.

Peter replaces all the sugar with salt, knowing he would get Tony sooner than later. Sure enough a few hours later, Tony pours himself a cup of coffee added his sugar, it went better then Peter expected. 

Tony spat the coffee all over Bucky who was sitting at the kitchen counter minding his own business.

Tony replaces Peters hair gel with Vaseline, which took ages to clean out his hair. So, Peter replaced Tony’s shaving cream with whipped cream.

Pranks where being pulled by every team member, everyone keeping their eye out for anything suspicious. Steve isn’t too good at pranks, so he gets the help of the best pranksters on the team. With Steve, Peter and Clint teaming up the others will never know what hit them.

Steve, Peter and Clint spend the next few hours turning Tony and Bruce’s shared lab into a ball pit, suppressing laughter at their combined effort as they make their way into the lounge new room, waiting for the unsuspecting men to find their hard work.

A few hours later it seems that Tony has discovered their art. 

“WHAT THE HELL!” They hear Tony yell.

Causing the three tricksters to burst into laughter, heading down to the laboratory/ball pit. 

“Peter,” Tony says in mock hurt

“you teamed up with Captain America to prank me!?” Tony asks, pretending to be hurt and ashamed

“I’m sorry” Peter answers, pretending to be upset

“betrayal, traitor, double agent” Tony calls out as, Peter laughs along with Clint and Steve.

Bruce then walks into the lab

“oh my god,” Bruce says, a smile on his face which drops as soon as sees something not quite right.

“Tony please tell me you moved those test tubes from the counter,” Bruce asks, concern in his voice as he walks over to an empty bench space

“no, I didn’t” Tony answers, furrowing his eyebrows walking over to where Bruce was searching.

Starting to sift through the balls covering the floor, horror shadows Tony face as he holds up a broken test tube, Bruce face drops.

“Do you have any idea what that was?” Bruce asks angrily, trying to keep his breathing under control.

“I have been working on a formula for years that might help me control the other guy when I get upset or angry” Bruce explains, holding up the broken test tube.

“I am so sorry Bruce,” Steve says, walking toward his friend to hug him. 

“It was my idea, it’s my fault” Peter speaks up

“I’m really sorry,” he says hating that he is tearing up right now.

Why does he have to be so damn emotional

“You should have known better" Tony scolds Peter, upset that one of his closet test friends year work is destroyed

“I know I’m sorry,” Peter says, biting his lip forcing himself to not cry because he is being yelled at, he messed up and everyone is angry with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hurry. Don’t worry. Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses - Walter Hagen


	56. Chapter 56

“No, we’re sorry kiddo,” Tony says, breaking into a smile, 

“wait for what!?” Peter exclaims as Bruce starts to laugh,

“pranked you guys,” he says laughing.

“That’s so mean,” Peter says laughing, wiping his eyes.

“So not cool dudes,” Clint says, bending over-breathing a sigh of relief.

“I know, I know I almost called it off when poor Peter started crying,” Bruce says,

“I wasn’t crying” Peter argues

It’s not his fault he tears up when he’s being yelled at a lot of people do that.

“Aww you’re so emotional” Tony teases

Pulling Peter into a hug, Peter accepts the hug even though he’s annoyed at the older man. 

The next day the prank war is still going on as Clint hid all the alarms in the house in Peter room, setting them to go off at different times starting at 3 am. Peter comes into the lounge room at 5 am, giving up on sleep seeing Clint relaxing on the couch smiling smugly at him.

“I didn't want it too have to come to this, but you made me do this” Peter says

He grins before closing his eyes and putting his fingers to his temples scrunching up his face like he’s deep in concentration.

“What the hell are you doing?” Clint asks

“summoning the spiders” Peter answers simply as he pretends he can summon actually spiders.

Clint pauses for a brief moment, thinking over what Peter just said

“You can’t do that” Clint says hesitantly.

Peter opens an eye, looking at Clint raising an eyebrow questioningly

“can’t I?” Peter says, closing his eye again.

Peter waits until Clint sounds nervous enough

“I……ummm…...you” Clint stutters

Natasha hears what going on and sneaks up behind him, running her hand like a spider up his back, Clint screams. 

“I’m kidding,” Peter says

Doubling over laughing as he sees the assassin glaring at him and Natasha.

The prank war gets called off because things start to get out of hand when Thor and Loki join in. Still quite not understanding that Pranks shouldn’t be lethal as Peter dodges an arrow which was hooked up to a trigger spring.

Lucky it as Peter that walked through the door as although the others are quick on their feet no one expects an arrow to be fired at them when entering the gym where weapons are only allowed in for training purposes, thank god for spidey senses. 

After the prank war is called off everyone just lays around the lounge room reading books, on their phones or some another form of entertainment looking up at Clint when he scoffs. 

“This article says you are never more then 10 ft away from a spider at all times, that’s bull shit if I’ve ever heard it,” Clint says reading, something on his Stark Pad. 

“Clint, there's a spider next to you right now” Natasha points out.

“Peter doesn’t count he’s not an actual spider, he’s part spider,” Clint says huffing, at her teasing tone.

“That’s not though,” Natasha says. 

She smirks pointing to an actual spider on the coffee table, causing both Peter and Clint to freak out.

“Oh my god get it away from me that thing is huge” Peter squeals as Clint climbs the couch and hides behind it 

“Spider man’s weakness is spiders?” Sam questions Peter, poking fun at him.

“Hey, you can’t tell me that if you were bitten by something you wouldn’t be too fond of it, besides they are so creepy looking,” Peter says a shiver running down his spine.

“You’re the one that's part spider, you are insulting yourself right now,” Sam says again

“I don’t LOOK like a spider I can just do everything a spider can,” Peter says, giving Sam an annoyed look.

“I know squirt,” Sam says, ruffling Peter's hair

“Why does everyone do that?” Peter asks in defeat

Sighing as he flattens his hair out he walks out the room heading towards the gym to do some training.

Christmas comes around quickly before they know it, it’s Christmas Eve and the heroes are all sat on a brand-new couch, big enough to fit the growing family on.

Peter has made everyone Hot chocolate, placing a candy cane in each mug to stir the beverage with, giving the hot chocolate a subtle minty taste. 

They are sat down sipping their hot chocolates, watching everyone’s favourite Christmas movies, while taking turns throwing a ball for Millie to play fetch with.

They have watched countless movies leading up to Christmas as everyone wanted a turn at watching their favourite Christmas movie. Thor and Loki also wanted to see as many Christmas movie as possible, to not only see what Christmas all was about but to pick their favourites. 

So, they started watching them early in the afternoon and will watch the remaining movies on Christmas. 

“It's technically a Christmas movie” Rhodes argues

as he puts on his favourite Christmas movie which is Die Hard.

Followed by Steve’s favourite which not surprisingly was It’s a wonderful life, Clint followed with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer which was an adorable stop-motion animated film.

“I was obsessed with this movie when I was a kid,” Peter says, leaning forward excitedly

“you are a kid, kid” Sam teases

“a littler kid” Peter whispers annoyed, leaning back as the movie starts.

Clint’s movie was a fairly short one having been aimed at kids, so Bruce puts on Love Actually, Peter smiles as Bruce sits down closer to Natasha then he had been previously.

“Did you want to choose the last movie?” Tony asks Pepper who is folded up in the love seat with him

“It’s a wonderful life has been a tradition for me to watch since I was a little girl” She replies.

“you’re up kid,” Tony says, nudging Peter with his foot

“I love all Christmas movies” Peter answers,

“well pick one of your favourites tonight and we can watch another one tomorrow” Pepper answers

Smiling at Peter because she couldn't agree more, all Christmas movies have such a wonderful message, most were cheerful and left you filled with Christmas spirit. Peter took a little while to choose but picked Elf 

“yes! if no one picked this, I was going to” Sam comments, giving Peter a high-five.

They all headed to bed around 2 am ready for the Christmas festivities to begin tomorrow. 

Tony woke up around 6 am Christmas morning, he got up and stretched making his way to the kitchen to see if anyone else was up, which no one was. He makes his way to Peters room, having heard a noise come from the closed door

“I thought kids were supposed to wake everyone up at the crack of dawn because its Christmas and everything is exciting” Tony teases Peter, as he sat down on the edge of the young boy's bed

“I have been up for a little while, I’m also 16” Peter informs Tony

“You know the others are still sleeping,” Tony says, trying to persuade Peter into waking them up.

“You’re helping,” Peter says, as he climbs out of bed

“it would be my pleasure,” Tony says

Grinning as they exit the room they wake Clint first knowing that he would also want to be in on this.

“Merry Christmas” Peter and Tony shout as they fling Clint's door wide open.

Clint jumps laughing as he looks at them standing in the doorway

“what it's 6:30!? way too late for people to be sleeping on Christmas” Clint says smirking, as he helps to wake the others up. 

They only have a few people to wake so they split up Tony goes to wake Rhodes, Peter goes to wake Pepper and Clint goes to wake Natasha.

Rhodes sits up and sighs at his friend before he gets up and makes his way into the kitchen for breakfast. Pepper was already awake and was making her way into the Avengers’ quarters when Peter ran into the room.

Peter and Pepper were making their way into the kitchen when they heard a yell come from Natasha room. Everyone heads to her room to find Clint pinned down by Natasha. 

“Why did you think it was a good idea to wake me up by tackling me!? I thought you were an intruder” Natasha says, as she gets off Clint, helping him to his feet.

“Now that I think about it, scaring up a bunch of advanced humans awake may not have been the smartest idea,” Tony says

Giving a sorry glance at Clint as he stretches out the arm Natasha had pinned behind his back groaning. 

They sit down to eat breakfast together as Tony puts on his favourite Christmas movie A Christmas Carol.

“I can see why you like this movie, rich old, grumpy man meets a cute little kid that makes him a better person and in turn, the rich old man treats the kid as his son,” Rhodes says teasing Tony.

“I've liked this movie for years thank you very much” Tony replies, although he's a little red in the face.

Peter collects everyone's breakfast dishes also a little red in the face

“I love the animation in this movie it looks so real,” Peter says, sitting down next to Natasha as she puts on The Polar Express.

They watch movies until lunchtime, Vision and Wanda both agree the Rise of the guardians is a wonderful movie although like Rhodes movies its technically not a Christmas movie, Bucky chooses How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

They watch the nightmare before Christmas whilst they eat lunch and start making the preparations for Christmas dinner. They share and unwrap presents while dinner is in the oven cooking which was a joint effort of everyone's behalf, they all split up to use the separate kitchens working around each other smoothly like clockwork.

The process was pretty fun as everyone danced around, singing Christmas songs badly at the top of their lungs. 

With colourful wrapping littering the floor and the wonderful presents all put away in rooms, they settled down drinking another of Peters candy cane hot chocolates sharing Christmas traditions new and old. 

They laughed and shared more stories over their glorious Christmas feast food covering the whole table looking like something out of Harry Potter.

They ate until they were uncomfortably full before they ended the night with one last Christmas movie which no one made it to the ending credits falling asleep with full bellies and happy hearts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only robs today of its joy - Leo Buscaglia


	57. Chapter 57

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Sa-26 for the first part of this chapter as they wanted to see Peter move into Tonys and Peppers Penthouse

A few weeks into the New Year Tony walks into Peters room, 

“I have something to show you Kid,” He says with a smile 

“Oh, sure Dad,” Peter says closing his book and following his Dad. 

“You already have access to the penthouse, but you never use that, I got to thinking that maybe it’s because you didn’t have your own space and didn’t feel welcome, or felt like you were intruding or didn’t want to see your Mum and Dad kissing” Tony teases 

Peter only turns red because all of the above were reasons he didn’t go into the penthouse. 

“So,” Tony says as they walk through the penthouse “I made you a few rooms in the penthouse,” Tony says his smile growing wider 

“Did you say a few rooms!?” Peter gasped 

“I did indeed kiddo,” Tony says pointing to the first room 

Peter walks in and almost faints. It’s a Star Wars-themed room, retro arcade machines line the walls. 

“No way!” Peter says turning to Tony 

“Yes, way” It’s his father’s replies as he leads him into the next room which is a gymnastics room with incredibly high ceilings, soft flooring, all the gymnasium equipment you can think of neatly put away in its rightful place. 

“Dad….” Peter protests, this is all too much. 

He just Peter, Just Peter 

“I know, I Know” Tony says misreading peter comment

“Don’t worry I have a bedroom set up, I know you loved you old bedroom. So It’s pretty much a replica just a little bigger and a few extra bits added here and there” His Dad smiles and shows him the new gadgets in his room. 

“All we have to do is move your things in here kid,” Tony says ruffling his hair

Peter hugs his Dad around the waist tightly tearing up as he thanks him over and over again. Peter didn’t think he could feel any more at home but here he is. 

Peter has been training a lot recently, he wants to prove himself to the others, so they will him go on the bigger non-government missions. Tony walks into the gym, expecting to find Peter still training as he has been for the past two hours but when Tony walks in he sees Peter is sat on the floor reading a book, using a weighted ball like a basketball, spinning it on his finger.

“oh, hey Dad,” Peter says, looking up as he sees Tony enter the room

“What I saw Thor doing it and thought I’d try, it’s pretty fun” Peter answers blushing when Tony doesn't say anything as he looks at Peter with a questioning expression.

“Just because you saw Thor doing it doesn’t mean you have to do it if Thor jumped off a bridge would you”? Tony asks Peter, who is silent before he slowly goes to open his mouth to answer Tony’s question.

“You know what don’t answer that,” he says not wanting to hear the kids answer. 

Not that he would have heard it anyway over the blaring Alarm telling them to suit up for a mission. 

“That was the normal alarm, can I please come!?” Peter asks, jumping to his feet eagerly

“Suit up Spiderling,” Tony says, smiling as Peter was out the door before only could finish speaking. 

“Okay listen up have some instructions then we have to follow closely if we want things to go our way” Steve starts to speak, as everyone takes a seat in the quit jet.

Peter listens carefully to the instructions even though his instructions are the same as always 

“Keep your distance and web them up”. 

Things start pretty smoothly, the situation is under control as the Avengers are down the attack drones easily, but the small robots were just a decoy for a much bigger problem.

“Fall back, these are duds, the only thing they are capable of doing is moving forward and backward, it’s a trick, make your way to cinder street, that’s where the real fight is” Steve’s panicked voice comes through the intercom.

Peter makes his way quickly to the location, Clint has been injured and Steve, Bucky and Natasha need backup stat. Peters' eyes go wide as he takes in the situation around him, cars are on fire. 

Peters eyes zone in on Clint who is having his arm badged by Natasha seeing Clint is out of harms away, wounds mended his racing heart slows slightly. Peter breathes a sigh of relief when he sees all civilians have been cleared from the area and are safe. 

Peters relief is short-lived as he looks to his left and sees something falling from the sky.

“DAD!” Peter screams

As he watches Tony fall from the sky to be immediately swarmed by 5 attack drones.

“NO!” He yells

running towards Tony only for something to grab Peter holding him back. Peter yanks away, turning to fight expecting it to be another attack drone but it’s Steve. 

“let go of me” Peter screams at Steve

Who grabs Peters arm trying to hold him back once again. 

Peter using all his strength rips his arm out of Steve’s grip and runs towards where his dad is laying helpless, trying and failing to blast all the drones on top of him.

Peter launches a web grenadine, entangling two of them in him webs, throwing another two as far away as he can throw them. Tony blasted the last one off himself. 

“Dad! are you okay!?” Peter asks as the faceplate opens

Tony is battered and bruised his lip is swollen so and he is bleeding from a welt on his head. Peter sees Tony mouth open as he goes to reply, but his eyes flutter closed, and his breathing becomes so shallow Peter isn’t even sure he can call it breathing. 

“DAD! dad please, open your eyes” Peter starts crying. 

He looks over and sees the others fighting off the last of the drones. Everything is blurred, it looks like they are moving in slow motion, after what seemed way too long Steve is running over. 

Peter looks at the room older man pleading him to open his eyes as he hears Steve call over the intercom 

“We need medical Stat iron man is down and unresponsive, I repeat medical stat iron man is down and unresponsive”. 

Peter can’t concentrate on anything but the unconscious man beside him, so the team send Peter home with Tony to not stress Peter out as he wonders if his Dad is okay, begin distracted during the battle and increasing risking himself getting hurt.

After the rest of the team fend of the drones they immediately head back to the tower, Tony is in the med bay and Peter is sitting outside

“They won't let me in there while they operate” Peter informs his teammates', tears falling steadily from his eyes.

They try their best to comfort the younger boy, but it seems that seeing Tony is okay is the only thing that will calm Peter down, two hours later they are still operating on Tony and Peter is starting to panic.

“I can't lose him, not now, I’m so stupid, he actually adopted me, and I was still a little bit scared to call him dad, what if he thinks I didn't….” Peter says the steady flow of tears falling at a faster pace.

“He’ll be okay” Steve tries to reassure Peter cutting off Peters panicked rambling. 

“You don't know that” Peter answers bluntly. 

They all fall silent because they know just how true Peters words are. 

An hour later they are finally allowed in to see Tony how is, he has been put in a medically induced coma having received head trauma, five broken ribs causing a collapsed lung, a broken leg from the fall as well as receiving a broken arm as a result of fending off his attackers in his barely conscious state.

The other team members leave Peter with Tony as the younger boy refuses to move from where he is stood next to his father. Bruce comes back 3 hours later seeing Peter has not moved an inch, not even to get a chair to make himself more comfortable, focusing on Tony and only Tony.

Bruce brings a chair over to Peter and gently lowers the younger boy into a sitting position, Bruce sighs sadly as Peter refuses dinner saying that he isn't hungry, so they leave Peter alone with Tony for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stress is simply the adaptation of our bodies and minds to change - Peter G. Hanson


	58. Chapter 58

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little Spider-Mum at the end as requested by MarvelObsessedgirl3, I hope you enjoy!

The others have decided to go into the med bay in turns to not only check on Tony’s process but also to keep an eye on Peter who looks like he hasn't slept at all when Steve enters the room.

“Good morning Peter” Steve greets

“Hello” Peter greets quietly

Peter spares Steve a glance before his eyes zero back on Tony still lying motionless on the bed.

“Do you want some breakfast?” Steve asks Peter

resting a gentle hand on the young boys’ shoulder

“I’m not leaving him and he’s not leaving me,” Peter says firmly, tearing up again. 

“no one asked you to buddy it’s okay,” Rhodes says, entering the room just as concerned about his best friend’s current state. 

Steve leaves the room with a sad smile as Rhodes pulls up a chair next to Peter, giving the young boy a comforting smile, which Peter tries to return, his smile wobbling and faltering before it even from itself into a smile.

"Tones I love you but man you are a pain in my ass," Rhodes says laughing half-heartedly. 

"You never do listen to instruction, Tony here's a cover story don't tell the world you're Iron Man, look at you now" Rhodes continues. 

"I bet you never told Peter that you peed in your Iron Man suit because 'it has filtration system" Rhodes spoke mostly to Peter that time hoping to make him laugh or att he very least smile. 

"All jokes aside Tones you better wake up, you are my best friend, of course, we have had our ups and downs but we are in it till the end. This is not the end Tony, damn it." Rhodes says saying Tony's other hand. 

"You aren't giving up because I know you, that's not what you do tony, you make the impossible, possible and I know you can do it again and so do you," Rhodes says giving Tonys hand a soft but firm squeeze 

Rhodes talks to Tony for a little while longer, as Bruce said it may help speed up his recovery before he pats Peter firmly on the back and leaves the room. 

Peter takes a shaky breath before he starts speaking to Tony. 

“Hey Dad, could I tell you something?” Peter asks 

looking at Tony continuing because as much as Peter wants him to respond, Peter knows he can't. 

“Remember when all those iron man suits went rouge?” Peter asks again

“I was 7 when that happened, you’ve been my hero for a long time. You know that right? but you probably don’t know that you’ve saved me more than you know, there was a little boy, wearing an Ironman helmet at your expo, you saved him because he tried to fight one of the suits” Peter continued to talk 

“You stood in front of me and blew it up then said “nice work kid”, you’ve always been my hero, I’ve always felt a little bit safer, knowing the Avengers can and will save the city,” Peter says sniffing wipe a tear from his cheek. 

“I’ve always been a massive fan of yours, I was so excited when you were doing an expo close by, I begged Aunt May and Uncle Ben for weeks, I did chores around the house and everything. So when all the bad things happened, I wanted to be brave like you so I stood up to the suit, if you weren’t there I would have died, but I didn't because you were there for me then and now I’m going to be here for you” Peter finishes. 

Peter thinks he may have imaged it. 

but he could have sworn that Tony squeezed Peters fingers, just a little which gave Peter hope that his Dad would be just fine.

“Hello, there my little spider,” Natasha says coming is and giving him a soft smile, running her fingers through his hair. 

“I'm going to run a bath for you okay?” She says

Peter sighs “Okay” 

Natasha smiles heading into the bathroom and starts a hot bath with jets and bubbles and pours in Epson and lavender oil

“Just a quick wash, then you can go back to you dad, I’ll make your food in the meantime,” Natasha calls. 

Peter nods and stands, slowly making his way to the bathroom when Natasha calls him saying the bath is ready, leaving for the kitchen herself knowing Peter will take the shortest bath possible to get back to his Dad 

Peter does indeed take a very short bath, changing just as quickly before he is back with his Dad. 

Natasha comes back in holding a plate of sandwiches and cookies 

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist that you eat at least one of these because you are making yourself sick sweetheart and doing so isn’t going to do you or Tony any good,” She says

Natasha smiles kindly handing him his favourite kind of sandwich she even put extra pickles on it and squished it flat, just the way he likes it. 

“now go ahead and eat,” She says gently but firmly,

taking a bite of a peanut butter sandwich herself 

“Thank you, Ms Romanoff,” Peter says slowly picks at the sand, taking him almost an hour to eat the few sandwiches she bought to him. 

She with him the whole time gently rubbing his back and singing a song softly to him. He can’t understand the words because she’s singing in Russian, but her voice is soothing all the same. Now with a full stomach, the warm medical bay, and his Dad hand in his, Peter slowly drifts to sleep. Natasha smiles and kisses the top of his head, draping a blanket over him

“Sleep well Peter,” she says softly

continuing to hum softly as he leaves the room, quietly shutting the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it - Buddha


	59. Chapter 59

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *ANXIETY ATTACK WARNING*

*Three days later*

Tony wakes up in the medical bay. 

He looks over to see Peter fast asleep in a chair, which is pulled right up close to Tony’s bed, the smaller boy holding onto Tony’s arm tightly even in sleep.

“He's barely left your side, he was forced to once and that was for 5 minutes,” Bruce tells Tony quietly. 

Tony lifts his arm wincing slightly, but he runs his fingers through Peters' hair.

Peter opens his eyes looking around sleepily opening his eyes. That is until he sees that Tony is awake, his eyes widen and a big smile spreads across the young boys face in seconds. 

“Dad!” Peter says, hugging Tony closely.

“Hi kiddo,” Tony says, holding onto Peter tightly ignoring the pain shooting up his side.

“I love you Dad,” Peter says, still hugging Tony.

“I love you too kid” Tony responds, not wanting to let go either. 

*A few days later*

Tony is now allowed to get up and walk around.

His ribs and lungs healing slowly, still having the be very careful of his injuries, Peter still hasn’t left Tony’s side once making sure that Tony is okay, helping him with everything, so Tony doesn't exert himself. 

Peter doesn’t mean to be clingy after Tony got hurt but Tony was in a coma for three days.

Peter thought he would lose Tony just like he has lost everyone else in his life and that terrified Peter, he didn’t think he could handle losing another parental figure. Tony didn’t seem to mind Peter hanging around him more than usual, happily agreeing when Peter suggests they have cooking a day.

Peter taught Tony how to make his infamous blueberry muffins and Tony dusted off his mother’s cookbook, teaching Peter how to make the cookies he would make with his mother all the time when he was a little boy. 

Tony didn’t expect to find as much happiness as he didn’t share those memories with Peter, carrying on his family tradition after 30 years bought back happy memories for a Tony, which he much preferred to the unhappy memories of his parents he shoved down and had gotten used to.

“Peter, you've got cake batter all over your face” exclaims Tony

“what? no, I don’t” Peter says, confused

“Yeah right there,” Tony says, smearing a massive streak of batter across Peters' face.

Peter gasps and retaliates by throwing a handful of flour at Tony.

Tony grabs an egg cracking it over Peters' head

“Okay! Okay, let’s keep baking” Tony says

“Hey you’re just saying that so you don’t get more stuff on you” Peter pouts

“you caught me red-handed” Tony says, smirking as they both go back to focus on the baking. 

A few hours later muffins, cupcakes, cakes and pies litter the kitchen counter.

“well, I think we have snacks and desserts for the next year,” Tony says wiping his hands on a tea towel admiring their work.

As Tony is still healing, it doesn't take much to drain his energy, so he and Peter both flop down on the couch, they planned to watch a movie but they both fell asleep moments later as neither of them has had a good night’s sleep since the accident. 

Peter wakes up to the sound of his phone ringing

“Hello?” Peter answers, still half asleep.

“Hey, Peter” Ned answers

“Oh, hey Ned what’s up man,” He asks

“We were wondering if you would like to come to the shops with us?” Ned asks Peter

“That sounds fun, but um Dad got hurt on a mission and I need to be here to make sure he is okay,” Peter says

He does feel guilty about not going out and spending time with his friends and girlfriend but suddenly began to feel really unwell. 

“Oh, right totally, I hope the everything is okay and it all gets better soon” Ned replies, understanding completely before he hangs up the phone

“Hey, kiddo, who was that?” Tony asks, as Peter as he hangs up the phone.

“Wrong number” Peter lies, not wanting Tony to know that he said no to going out with his friends.

“I don't think I have to remind you how bad you are at lying” Tony questions Peter.

“It was just Ned” Peter answer, because hey it wasn't lying Tony just asked who it was not what they wanted.

“You aren’t going out to see your friends?” he asks.

He's good Peter curses as he is running out of excuses

“come on kiddo I’ll get Happy to drive you,” Tony says. 

Tony doesn't want Peter to think they he can't go out and see his friends because he thinks he has to help Tony.

He can look after himself, his ribs are slowly healing they are still sore and tender, but the pain doesn't shoot through him every time he moves. His broken leg and arm are still a pain when it comes to maneuvering objects, but Tony has everyone else to help if needed. 

Before Peter can argue, he is in Happy's car being driven to the shops. Peter thinks he might be coming down with something as his head starts pounding and his stomach starts churning.

He goes to tell Happy that he needs to go home, but Happy opens his car door and Ned, Flash and MJ are standing outside the shops waiting for him and he starts to feel a little better, so he gets out the car and makes his way over to his friends, Ned hugs him hello, followed by a hello kiss from MJ and a friendly wave from Flash. 

Peter sends a text to Tony, telling him that he has arrived at the shops with his friends.

They make their way inside Peter checks his phone to see if Tony has texted back. 

Which he hasn’t. 

Peter sends his Dad another text just in case he didn't get or hear the first one. This makes Peter feel a little uneasy as his stomach ache comes back.

“Hey Peter, you okay?” Ned asks

“I uh yeah” Peter answers. 

He beings to feel the beginning of anxiety creeping its way into his thoughts, too embarrassed to tell his friends how he is feeling.

Peter has put two and two together figuring out that he is feeling this way because he is away from Tony.

Peter feels ashamed that he was going through this again, having gone through this before but being such a young age Peter can’t remember how he handled these resurfacing feelings. 

Peter texts Tony a few more times as he starts to worry about all the things that could have gone wrong while Peter was away.

What if he had fallen over and hit his head and couldn’t get back up to reach his phone?

What if there was no one there to help him?

What is someone figured out how to break into the building a took advantage of his Dad being unable to defend himself?

What if his Dad has been kidnapped before someone stops it happening again? 

Peter zones out as his chest tightens, as he starts to think about anything and everything that could have gone wrong.

“Hey Peter, sit down” a voice gently calls out, its too far away for him to decide who though. 

He let the hands gently guide him to somewhere he could sit.

Peter can feel his chest tightening as he struggled more and more to breathe.

“Hey, it’s okay just breath with me Peter” Mj soothes, rubbing his back placing soft kisses on his cheek, as Ned sent a text to Happy to come and pick him up. 

Peter was in the car and on the way home soon after as Happy was only a short while away only having left not too long ago.

Peters' stomach squeezed as he kept checking his phone for a text from Tony and still nothing. Peter ran inside his house and looked around for Tony, Peter was just about to ask Friday where he was, but Tony came around the corner drying his hair.

Peter walked up to Tony and hugged him. 

“I thought you were out with your friend's kiddo” Tony questioned Peter as he pulled away

“I um I texted and you didn't answer and I didn't want anything to have gone wrong while I was gone” Peter replied, starting to feel a little silly at his actions

“The kid was having a full-blown panic attack before I arrived” Happy tells Tony. 

Peter runs to his room to quickly put his phone on charge coming back seconds later.

Tony furrowed his eyebrows concerned with what Happy just informed him.

Peter now showed no signs of having had a panic attack a few minutes ago as he sat on the couch near Tony, setting up some movies before going to make some popcorn and sandwiches in the kitchen. 

All merely a few feet away from Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open - Albus Dumbledore


	60. Chapter 60

A few days later and Peter has still not left Tony’s side, even sleeping in Tony’s room on a mattress on the floor, insisting that he can take look after Tony while Pepper is away on business.

It’s 3 the morning everyone else has gone to bed but Tony is awake working in workshop Peter sitting by his side. Peter looks exhausted, Tony knows that Peter is avoiding going to bed because Tony asked Peter to try and sleep in his own room tonight.

Tony sighs as this current situation with Peter has started to worry him. He wants to talk things out with Peter before things become serious already seeing the signs of separation anxiety forming in Peter and getting worse day by day. 

“Listen, Peter, I’m here for you, you know, that right? I am here to support you in anything you might de dealing with” Tony says,

He gives Peter a soft smile as Peter looks up at him. 

“I know Dad, I’m here for you too,” Peter says getting up and hugging Tony. 

Tony hugs back, rubbing Peter’s back. 

“I know kid, and I am so thankful for everything you have done for me these past few weeks, but I’m getting better and I want you to go out and have fun with your friends, I’m Tony Stark, of course, I’ll be fine,” Tony says ruffling Peters's hair.

Peter laughs softly and sits back down yawning 

“I think it’s time you headed off to bed kiddo” Tony informs Peter, as he falls asleep sitting up for the fifth time in a row. 

“Are you going to bed too?” Peter asks Tony 

“I might head off to bed myself” Tony answers Peters question, as they make their way to Peters room.

“Now, I know you’ll try your best kiddo, but my door is open if you need me okay? Or talk to Friday and I’ll come to you” Tony says giving Peter one last hug before turning to leave. 

Peter nods and gets settled into his bed before he looks around at Tony. 

“I’m too old for this” Peter states, as tears start to spring from his eyes.

Tony’s heart breaks as he takes in the scene in front of him. Peter is struggling with separation anxiety and has come to that conclusion himself quite possibly even before Tony had, having battled this before.

Peter now felt too ashamed and embarrassed to talk about his struggles as like all his problems, he deemed them too childish from him too talk about always trying to act older than he is, but at the same time struggling to keep a hold of the few years of childhood he has left.

Tony smiles and turns back around, closing the door and sitting at the end of Peter’s bed. 

“Surprisingly this isn't uncommon in people your age Peter, lots of teens your age experience it on the first few years of high school because it’s a pretty big and daunting change,” Tony tells him. 

Trying to dampen his worries of feeling as though he is the only one that struggles with these problems at his age.

“I will be here you for as long as I live Peter and you know that we are powerful people with powerful friends it’s going to take a lot for someone to take me away from you, I promise you that” Tony keeps talking.

Tony will talk for as long as it takes to get rid of any doubt in Peters mind that Tony won’t be okay, and Peter needs to watch over him to ensure that’s true. Peter nods and lays down closing his eyes.

Tony would do anything for this kid, just like he know this kid would do anything for him. Tony knows this isn’t going to be a one-step process or be fixed overnight with one heart to heart chat, but Tony knows it will help, and he knows that this will make things a little better even if it is only for a little while. 

“I love you Dad,” Peter says leaning forward to hug Tony 

“I love you too Peter,” Tony says hugging back 

“Have a good night, tell Friday if you need anything and she can tell me okay?” Peter says letting go. 

“Okay, buddy I promise, if I need help you’ll be the first to know” Tony smiles, getting up and making his way to the door “you sleep well too buddy, I know you can do it, you’re one tough kid,” He says opening the door. 

However, as Tony goes to leave could tell Peter wanted to say something but once again seemed to be having an internal struggling within himself on whether or not to vocalize his thoughts.

“What’s on your mind kiddo?” Tony asks, sitting back down on the end of Peters bed.

Peter bites his lip before speaking. 

“Could you please stay until I fall asleep, just for tonight?” Peter asks quietly, as his cheeks deepen with colour

“Of course, Peter, like I said whatever you need I’ll be here, we can take it slowly. I’m proud of you for sleeping in your room tonight Peter, it’s great progress” Tony answers as he gets comfortable on the end of Peters bed 

“I love you Dad,” Peter says, snuggling down into his sheets, dozing off not long after. 

“I love you too Petey” comes Tony’s reply as Peter falls fast asleep.

After that night Tony booked himself, Pepper and Peter in for some family therapy which helps to teach parents/guardians about the anxiety, what causes the anxiety and the steps they can take to help Peter deal with Anxiety and how they can help Peter if it all becomes too much.

After some reassurance, it also helped Peter to recognize and overcome what gives him anxiety, learning how to avoid certain triggers where possible and learning to cope a little easier with the ones that weren’t as easily avoidable.

After a few weeks Peter is a lot better he has started going out again and seeing his friends he still sends Tony a text to say that he has arrived, where he was going which Tony always makes sure to reply to adding that everything is fine, sometimes adding what he is up to that day. If Tony goes out Peter also receives a text ensuring Peter that Tony and whoever he was travelling with has arrived safely. Being the busy man, he is sometimes his meetings go over time, but he always to make sure to text Peter if this is the case, sending another when he is on his way home. It’s been a bumpy road, but it always has been, and it always will be, but if they get to ride it out together then things will turn out just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seeing at Peter is learning some coping mechanisms I thought I would share some with you 
> 
> This one doesn’t work for me personally because 90% of the time my problem with my anxiety is overthinking. But I've heard it works really well for others. Name 5 things you can see in the room with you, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear right now, 2 things you can smell right now, 1 good thing about yourself such as you are incredibly strong and powerful. 
> 
> *************************************************
> 
> Square breathing is a simple way to refocus your attention to your breath and the present moment.
> 
> With your index finger, slowly trace the shape of a square in front of you, keeping your eyes on that finger.
> 
> With one side, breathe in for 3 seconds…
> 
> With the next side, hold your breath for 1 second…
> 
> With the third side, breathe out for 3 seconds…
> 
> With the final side, hold for 1 second…
> 
> Kind of like the breathing technique Tony Shared with Peter all the way back in chapter 16


	61. Chapter 61

After his talk with Tony ad his sessions with the therapist, Peter is feeling a whole lot better about going out and doing things with his friends. They are going to the water park today. Tony even came to pick up his friends and see them off. 

“Ready for the water park kid?” Tony asks as they drive to pick up MJ 

“Yeah! Its super-hot today so it will be fun” Peter replies

They pull up outside MJ’s house and Peter hops out, knocking on the door, handing MJ the flowers he bought her when she comes out, she smiles and kisses him on the cheek, taking the flowers and outing them inside before grabbing her beach bag and hopping in the car. 

“Not that I don’t appreciate you dropping us off, but you don’t know that all four of us have our licenses, right?” MJ questions Happy and Tony once she’s buckled in. 

“Yes, I know but I thought it would be nice to go for a drive” Tony replies simply having been housebound for 2 weeks. 

“Makes sense,” she said looking out the window taking Peters hand in hers. 

They pick up the two other boys who are just as excited to be going to the water park. 

“so, do we have a plan for today?” Ned asks as they hop out the car 

“Who needs a plan?” Flash says playfully pushing Ned softly. 

“Just asking, my mum plans things out sometimes,” Ned says going a little red

“no plans! Just fun” Peter says grinning, hiring out a locker of all their belongings before running off and jumping into the pool 

“This is so nice!” he tells the other, the boys jump right in after him 

“It’s cold!” Flash says gasping for air 

“That’s what makes it nice dude it’s crazy hot out” Ned replies splashing him. 

“Come on MJ!” Peter says to MJ who is sitting on the grass reading a book. 

“you losers have fun,” she says turning the page of her book 

Peter and smiles coming over to her giving her a big hug and kiss getting water all over her 

“Whoops,” Peter says laughing a small bit 

MJ smirks and shrugs going back to her book 

Peter turns around shrugging at the other boys who are looking at him wide-eyed. At first, he thinks it might be because hugging his girlfriend while dripping with water wasn’t a good move. But he is tackled into the pool from behind from someone. He pops up and looks to see MJ floating in the water beside him cracking up laughing. 

“Hey!” he says laughing, splashing her 

“What?” She says pretending like she didn’t just tackle him into the pool 

Soon they have a big water fight, with the four splashing and tackling each other in the water, dunking each other. 

“Water slides?” Ned questions 

“Water slides” the rest agree

They go on the smaller ones first warming themselves up, they take a couple turns on the slow water slides and the fast ones, they also laze around on the pool floats for a while just looking around at all the plants and nature as the ride sends them around and around. 

They go on a few rides together, just chatting as they make their way around the rapids, which is a giant water slide which sends a four-person to float up and around a giant water slide. 

They are now all stopped at the one water slide they haven’t gone on. The Aqua Drop, they slowly make their way up the stairs, looking at the massive ride again. 

“This actually looks really fun” Peter comments 

“You can go first then,” Flash says 

Peter smiles and goes forward in the line, getting into the water slide and following the instructions, before Peter knows it the slide in counting down and the floor drops from under him and he is being sent zoom up and around a water slide loop. 

He honestly loved it the feeling was similar to free-falling before catching himself with another web while he was swinging through the city. 

Ned went after Peter 

“Dude how awesome was that!” Peter asks Ned 

“Pretty awesome but not awesome enough to do it again,” Ned said letting out a deep breath 

Flash went next, he high fived the two at the bottom 

“That was fun” Flash commented grinning 

Peter and Ned nodded in agreement one more enthusiastic than the other 

MJ was the last down and she exited the ride looking quite pale 

Peter run over to her and hugged her rubbing her back 

“I’m never doing that again,” MJ said hugging Peter back 

"It's okay you don't have to," he said giving her a gentle smile, leading the group to the water boats 

Peter laughed at he squirted Flash right in the face with his water pistol, MJ taking that as an opportunity to squirt water directly into Peter's mouth. 

Peter spluttered and spat the water out while still laughing 

"Okay that's fair I guess I was asking for it" he grinned chasing after MJ in the water boat to get his revenge. whilst Ned and Flash wherein their very own water battle. 

After that they spend a few more hours swimming in the pool before getting out and lazing around in the sun so they don’t get back into the car dripping went ruining Tony's seats. 

On the way home Tony offered for the others to come and join them for a movie night, the trio politely declined, wanting to go home and spend time with their families after such a long day, they were all about ready for bed. 

It’s a Friday night so they all gather and sit down on, ready for their traditional movie marathon. Peter is laying down on the couch watching Lilo and stitch with the whole family and can’t help but compare the situation. 

“This my family, I found it all by myself” Stich speaks 

As Peter looks over at Thor and Loki gently shoving each other fighting over whether an alien such as Stitch exists in the universe. Natasha's legs are resting on Clint’s lap her head resting on Bruce’s shoulder as he runs his fingers gently through her hair.

Steve and Bucky are watching the TV with great interest, shushing Sam when he tries asking either of them a question. Rhodes and Tony are quietly talking about upgrades they could possibly make to Rhodes leg braces as he gets better at walking day by day.

Peters is resting his head in Peppers lap enjoying the movie. 

“It’s little” Stitch speaks at the end of the movie begins to play, 

‘Really big’ Peter corrects in his head, smiling to himself 

“and broken, but good, yeah still good,” Stitch says, as he talks about his family he loves dearly, and Peter couldn't agree more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. - William James


	62. The End <3

The End! 

Thank you all so so much for reading and I cannot thank you enough for all your kind comment throughout this entire story. 

I truly couldn't ask for more amazing people to read my stories! you all really are best and kindest people. 

Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts and I know each and everyone one of you are brave enough, strong enough, kind enough and smart enough to make a huge difference in this world and be who you want to be and go where you want to go in life. 

If you guys are interested I am in the process of writing many more Iron Dad stories, none of which will be a part two to this story (I'm sorry if you want that :'( ) but I truly hope you like them all the same if you do choose to check them out! I'll be sharing one at a time to not overwhelm myself with too many stories at once but here is the summary for the next Iron Dad story I shall be sharing with the wide and wonderful web. I'll be uploading the first few chapters of in the next few days. 

*********************  
Destined 

When three-year-old Peter Parker was first dropped off at Tony Stark’s door. He had no idea what to do, he could barely even look after himself and suddenly he found himself responsible for another life, another human being. But he promised Peters family that he wouldn’t let them down, and Tony Stark doesn’t break his promises. 

*********************

So thank you for all your kind words and support 

For now though! if anyway wants any requests or one-shots you want to me write for you guys feel free to ask away!

So! peace out, for now, girls, guys and non-binary pals 

Best wishes your friendly neighbourhood writer!


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